Persona 3: Life, Death and Rebirth
by CausticRaven
Summary: It's not always a matter of what you're capable of- it's a matter of what you're allowed to make. Persona 3, as told from the eyes of another individual aware of the Dark Hour and of Tartarus. 1/4 pairings revealed.
1. Prologue: Night of Shadow

_9/5/08- Late Night_

Man, oh man, what a night. Tonight's been hectic, and it's only just the beginning. But, to be fair, it ain't every night that you show up at Mandragora and rock the house on an open-mic heavy metal night.

But, I should probably introduce myself. My name's Adam Hiikaze. I'm currently a third year at Gekkoukan High School. Pretty barebones, I know, but I'm actually not all that special. I do well enough on exams, I've got a few key friends that I hang around with, and I generally tend to keep to myself.

…Although there are those crazy one-off nights that lead me to singing hard rock songs in English at Mandragora- the karaoke bar nestled in the top floor of Paulownia. I may not have the most training or anything like that, but I can match the tone of the singer pretty well. And having listened to that kind of music for almost all of my life, I'd like to think that I'd do a pretty good job.

Well, no matter. Regardless of what transpired, it's time for me to head on back to my parent's place and go rest up for the night. My parents are far from the strictest people around, so they expect me to be home by midnight, at the latest.

Walking home from Paulownia was actually pretty refreshing. On a September night, the cool breeze blowing served to cool me down and refresh me.

I pulled out my cell phone, and saw that it was almost midnight. And I was nowhere near home.

Oh shit.

I broke out into a sprint, running as fast as I could in the direction of home. Being far from the athletic type, this could turn out as well as one might expect- within moments I was panting and trying my best to get air into my lungs.

And then midnight hit. I was nowhere close to home. I was so done for when I got home- mom and dad would kill me.

…Wait a moment, what the hell just happened here? I looked around to see that the environment around me had turned into something from a nightmare. The sky had turned a sickly green, and the moon followed. It also seemed to have grown in size, and the people that were once around me had turned into creepy looking, upright black coffins that the moonlight gave a sinister glint to.

Good lord, this place looked like Hell itself. I shuddered as I felt an unnatural chill permeate in the air. I reached into my pocket for my cell phone, and looked at dismay when the screen had turned off, and wouldn't respond to me hammering on the power button In addition to that, the streetlights had died out and a dark, green light filled the sky. Electronics were fried…

"_Just gotta get home, Adam. Just get home and all will be fine. There you can go to bed and sleep it off."_ With that, after taking a few brief moments to catch my breath, I started to run again for the direction of my home. This time, I stopped despite running being a foreign activity for me- I had to get out of this as quick as I could, regardless of what my body told me otherwise.

After what seemed like after a few minutes of running, I encountered something. This… something looked like a medium-sized blob of pure darkness, with a blue mask that displayed an apathetic expression and two claw-like appendages emerge from each side. Using these appendages, the shadowy blob crawled around, crawling past the coffins seemingly aimless.

Deciding that it was best not to aggro this thing, I tried to walk around it, but the moment my first step hit the ground, the blob had heard me. It turned to me, lurching slowly into my direction.

So much for not aggroing it, eh? Regardless of what had happened now, it was time to devise a plan for battle. Knowing that I didn't have the strength to take it out in regards to a pocketknife being an acceptable option to take on something like this, I decided to run for my life.

This worked as well as I expected, which was to say pretty well. Until I tripped and fell right next to a coffin. I looked up and saw that my back was directly up against it, and the blob had sensed it. Lurching forward, it dragged its body across the ground. There was nowhere I could run to- my back was up against a wall.

The blob had finally gotten to me, claws raised in a motion that showed a readiness to attack.

Oh god, no. This can't be happening! I won't die so easily! I can't! There's got to be another way!

**BOOM**

I lost it as I heard the sound of glass being broken. Feeling myself being encased in a pale blue glow, I noticed that shards of broken glass were beginning to rise around me in a tornado.

"_I am thou."_ I heard a deep, monotone voice speak. _"And thou art I. From the sea of thy soul, I come. I am Hydra, that which arises from the deep._"

Not given enough time to ponder where the voice was coming from, I turned to look back and saw that the glass shards had formed the image of the Lernaean Hydra. But, this one was different. This one wasn't as massive, and I could easily spot six distinct heads from the body. Each head looked slightly different, and one of them had a golden circle on the forehead with a dark, circular jewel in the centre. The body was large and covered in black scales, with dark wings flapping in the sky.

Hydra uttered a large, guttural roar as six ice shards flew from each of the mouths. The shards landed directly into the blob, piercing the body and splitting the mask. A roar of pain was heard from it as it exploded in a small pile of black liquid and a squelching noise.

Ew. Thank god none of that got on my clothes. Regardless, Hydra stood tall, dissipating only when I began to feel my head throbbing like no tomorrow. As the dragon disappeared, I noticed a blue card float down in front of me in that same blue glow that had enveloped me before. I reached out to grab the card and looked at it. On the front of the card was a tower being struck by lightning and two figures falling from it. The bottom of the card had the Roman numeral for sixteen, and on the back of the card was a circle with a mask, similar to the one the blob was just wearing.

How interesting. A possible correlation? Despite that, I shoved the card in my pocket and resumed my run home, my body now running on some adrenaline from seeing that blob thing get impaled by ice.

I managed to make it home, but that nightmarish hell that I was in hadn't let up. It felt that I had been running for what seemed like forever, but at the very least, no more of those dark blobs attacked me.

As I stepped through the door, I heard a whooshing sound, and then I felt that chill that had permeated through the air vanish.

"Good evening, Adam." I turned to see my mother staring at me from the stairs. "You're home right before curfew, very good." I turned to look out of the window, and the sky had resumed its natural colour- dark blue with streetlights on and people bustling about. I then pulled out my phone and flipped it up. Not only was it back on, but it still displayed that it was a second after midnight on September 6th, 2008.

The fuck? I swear to god that from Paulownia to here is about an hour, and I was sprinting. Then again, there _was_ that business with that blob…

"Is something wrong, Adam? You don't look well." I turned to hear my mom asking me a question with a concerned look on her face. I sighed.

"…So you just didn't notice what just happened?" Mom raised an eyebrow at me, curious.

"…Notice what just happened?" She asked me again, tying her dark brown hair into a ponytail. Oh-kay, this isn't good. You mean to tell me that I was the only one who just noticed that past hour?

"_If I may interject… I have some knowledge that may explain this situation."_ I glanced around to see if anyone else was around, and noticed it was just my mother and I, talking in the front hall.

"Never mind, mom. Guess I just thought I saw something. I'm tired, I'm going to bed." I yawned and then started to walk up the stairs to my room.

"Okay then. Good night, Adam." We hugged on the stairs and then we both went upstairs, her going into her room and me going into my own.

* * *

_9/6/08- Early Morning_

Hydra?

"_That is what I am, child."_

What did you mean by saying you have knowledge that may explain this situation?

_"I suppose I should start at the beginning then, child. Now, how would you react if I told you a day had more than 24 hours?_"

Come again? For starters, a day can't have more than 24 hours. And how do you even know about the concept of time?

_"You know how sometimes it's best not to argue? I'd like to say that this is one of those times."_

…Right then. Anyways, are you saying that was what that Hell Time I just experienced?

_"Hell Time? You already have a name for it?"_

Would you believe that I made it up just now? It kinda fits though…

_"Easily so, yes. But that's not quite the point. As you saw earlier, what you just experienced was another hour of time- as in it was a literal hour, but the time did not pass, until it ended."_

So it was another hour for us, but it took as much time as a snap of the fingers for everyone else?

_"If I were to take a guess, yes. What's important was that you saw how the street was littered with those black and red coffins?"_

I saw people turn into those when Hell Time started, and then they turned out of them when it ended. It must've been for some kind of safety or whatever… So why didn't we turn?

_"For a split second before it ended, your mother was encased in a coffin. Try to imagine her now."_

Uh… Okay. My mom… Karen Hiikaze. 41 years old, from Toronto, Canada. Justice Arcana.

…Justice Arcana? What the hell?

"_Because of the power I'm giving you, you can sense a person's Arcana in regards to the Tarot deck. Now, try to imagine yourself."_

Come again?

_"You heard me, child. Imagine yourself right now."_

Well… whatever. Myself. Adam Hiikaze. 17 years old. Tower Arcana, Persona of Hydra. Knows Mabufu, Mamudo and Beast Eye. Repels Electric, Absorb Ice, Null Darkness, Weak Light.

…Gonna be completely honest with you, those words a whole lot of nothing to me right now.

"You'll figure out within time. For now, I suppose you either go to bed or get to work on that Physics homework you had."

Son of a **BITCH!**

* * *

_9/6/08- Afternoon_

The next day, after a long explanation of mechanics I didn't entirely grasp the concept of, and not getting a proper sleep because I was reminded of the homework I needed to do by the mythological figure that had recently made residence within my head, I found that quite a fair amount had changed.

Well, at least the way I perceived things and people who had changed.

For starters, I had looked up a few terms that Hydra had spoken of. The attack that Hydra used when it spat out ice shards was named Mabufu. Hydra also described the attack known as Mamudo- a circle of darkness would rise up from the ground and instantly kills anyone trapped into the circle. Hydra did warn me that it had low odds of working, so I guess that's more of a desperation attack if anything.

And even though I was tired from all of the physical exercise, I still felt alert and always ready. I later learned that my ability to "scan" people comes from Hydra's final ability of Beast Eye. She told me that Beast Eye also increases my alertness and makes me ready for anything, amongst other "features", to quote her directly.

…Yes, it's a she. It took me a while to pick up on, but Hydra told me this morning.

Beast Eye was quite something to behold, really. I could catch a glance at a person and know of their Arcana and see if they had something like Hydra in them also.

_"You know, there's a name people have for what this is called."_

You mean demonic possession? She gave an exasperated sigh.

_"No, child. I'm called a Persona. The image of your true self."_

…Persona. Wait, you mean the concept from psychology?

_"Bingo."_

That aside, I got caught off guard when I was able to detect three within Gekkoukan. Only two of them had activated, while the other remained dormant.

The first one was Polydeuces, of the Emperor Arcana. Wait, Emperor? I swore I got readings from the Star Arcana also… But regardless, it belonged to a second-year student by the name of Akihiko Sanada. Some silver-haired kid who's captain of the boxing team or something, I didn't really notice him.

The second one was quite interesting to read when I first did. This one was Penthesilea, of the Empress Arcana, who resided in one Mitsuru Kirijo. Mitsuru was the redheaded daughter of the head of the Kirijo Group, Takeharu Kirijo. She exuded this aura of regality and formality, so lord knows I wouldn't be getting close to her anytime soon.

The dormant one was residing within a first year student- some slacker kid named Junpei Iori. His Persona was Hermes, but it hadn't awakened yet. It was different to sense a dormant Persona versus an awakened one. Call me crazy, but it felt…different. And more complete.

I didn't sense any others residing in the school, but aside from those three, I could feel that more could reside, but I couldn't hold it up forever- sessions of using Beast Eye left me with a pretty big headache.

* * *

_9/6/08- Hell Time_

When midnight hit, I felt that feeling of dread from last night resurge and saw Hell Time return.

This time, I was at home in my room, and was disappointed when my game of Pokemon shut off midway through training.

Y'know, this whole electronics going out thing is kinda bullshit. This seems like the most counter-productive thing ever.

_"I don't see the problem. Personally, you could just use the time to sleep."_

I guess, but I've always been a night owl, at least that's what my mom always told me… Oi, Hydra?

_"Yes?"_

Why are you…you? I mean, if you're a manifestation of my own psyche, why would you chose the form that you did?

_"A Persona will never choose its own form. A Persona is born from the host, and will reflect their hosts as such. I didn't choose this form; it's only a manifestation of you."_

…So why exactly is my inner manifestation of the Lernaean Hydra?

_"I don't know. You figure it out."_

* * *

_09/13/08- Hell Time_

I think it would be safe to say that I'm slowly starting to get used to Hell Time. I'm starting to see the ups and downs to it. It always gets colder and it kills all of the electronics in the area, but it **IS **another hour of sleep that I wouldn't get normally. Or the occasional hour spent doing whatever I want.

_"It seems that you are starting to welcome your new predicament, in a strange sense of the words."_

Yeah, you're kinda right. It still seems unreal, and I'm still worried as fuck that another one of those blobs might emerge, but as it stands, this isn't entirely terrible.

…Wait a tick. What the fuck is that?

_"I don't see."_

…That's where Gekkoukan is. What the fuck just happened to Gekkoukan High?

From where the school normally stood, I looked and saw, as it became a tower of twisted architecture. It grew to the length of a skyscraper, and took on that trademark green glow that seemed to permeate within Hell Time.

I could sense the evil coming from there just by looking at it, without having Beast Eye activated.

…Hydra?

_"I'm going to say this now, I don't know what it is, either."_

Well, shit. I don't know what the fuck to do. Shoving my hands into the pocket of my pants, I was able to pull out a 10-yen coin out of my pocket.

Heads, we go in. Tails, we run back home. Okay? Okay. Let's do this. And… flip!

…Oh good lord, that's a head. Is there even a damn way in there? Well… No matter. We're gonna have to try.

Walking up to the tower, I saw that the gate at the front of the school was unlocked. I opened the gate and walked towards the twisted tower that had just manifested itself. There was an opening, so I walked into it, not knowing what could possibly be waiting on the other side.

What awaited me on that other side was quite an interesting affair. The room I was in was almost like a lobby of sorts- the walls were elegant and the floor checkerboard. That chill of Hell Time seemed to disappear, as the foyer was a little warmer than it was outside. To the right, I saw some busted-up looking device and to the left was a weird, waist-high golden pillar.

But what caught my attention the most was the big, regal staircase that led to an even bigger, golden clock that looked…half dissected in a way. The clock showed some of the gears on the left side, but the right side showed the elegant face of the clock.

It's weird, really. The duality of it looked as if it stood for something much more, but I didn't know.

_"Look on the right side, over there."_ I looked to see where Hydra told me and saw an indentation in the face of the clock. It was small on the clock, but relative to me, it was rather big. Person-sized, in a way.

I put my hand on the center of the clock. The metal was warm, and seemed to react to my touch. My hand began to glow that similar shade of pale blue from a few nights ago, and the indentation opened, revealing a passageway.

I looked into it, and I couldn't see a thing.

…Well, shit. Nothing about this feels safe.

_"Hell Time is about to end. It may be wise to come back here later with more time to spare and more preparation."_ You may be right on that one, Hydra. You might be right…

* * *

_09/14/08- Morning_

_"You were the only one, Adam." She whispered. "The only one who ever believed in me. The only one who ever cared for me. The only one to love me." She paused. "You were the one who died for me." Guiding the barrel of the Evoker to her forehead, she closed her eyes. "Now it's time for me to do the same. For me to reciprocate some of that faith. Go on, I'm ready."_

…What? Whoa…

Some dream I had… Wonder what the hell that was all about. Hey, Hydra, you got any ideas?

_"…"_

Hydra?

"…Oh, sorry. I guess I wasn't paying attention. So what's up?"

…Never mind. Remember that we're going back to that tower tonight, right?

_"Oh, yes. Yes."_

Well, all right then. Guess we must go prepare.

…And it looks like I'll need a weapon.


	2. Prologue 2: The First Exploration

_09/14/08- Afternoon_

This could present a problem.

"_What could?"_

The tower that we were in last night- what the hell lies on the other side of that clock? And why did it respond to my hand glowing blue? Furthermore, why did my hand even start glowing blue in the first place?

"_Would it make you feel better if I told you I had absolutely no answers?"_

Not helping, Hydra. Not helping at all.

* * *

_09/14/08- Evening_

"_So, what're you going to use for your weapon?"_

I don't think it's a matter of what I can use, it's a matter of what I can find. I doubt there'd be any place that would sell weapons here, let alone to a minor. While I would **LIKE** to have something like a katana or an axe, I just don't think I'm at the liberty to pick one up from Paulownia.

"_Did you even check?"_

No. Why bother? Who's going to sell them to me? Some shady guy in an alleyway? A police officer? Tch, I might as well just grab a kitchen knife and run with it.

"_Does that really seem like a good idea?"_

Do you have any other alternatives?

"…_No."_

Yeah, that's what I thought. So, with no other suggestions or possibilities, I wore, in addition to my standard going out attire of black jeans and a dark t-shirt over top of a grey, long-sleeved shirt, a black messenger bag that easily concealed a sharp knife from my kitchen, amongst some other things.

"Mom!" I called out from the bottom of the stairs. "I'm going out for the evening!"

"Okay, sweetie! Be back by 12!" I heard yelled back down at me.

As I left, I smirked to myself as I looked at my cell phone as I pulled it from my pocket.

…Only 8:30, eh? Beauty.

"Hell Time doesn't start till midnight. What are you going to do from that time until then?"

I can hit up Paulownia for a bit. Grab a Coke, meet some of the guys up at Game Panic, just have some fun till 11:30.

"_Why then?"_

That'll give me enough time to go to Gekkoukan from Paulownia with enough time to spare before Hell Time starts. Then, that'll give us the full hour of Hell Time in that twisted tower.

"You seem to have this planned out, for someone who doesn't seem to be paying attention in class."

…Shut up, Hydra.

* * *

_09/14/08- Night_

After meeting up with a few guys at Game Panic, grabbing a drink from the vending machine and rocking some songs on Dance Dance Revolution, I found myself staring at the front gates of Gekkoukan, waiting it to turn into that twisted tower.

Pulling out my cell phone, I counted the seconds it took until Hell Time arrived.

3…

2…

1…

Boom.

And within a moment's notice, the world shifted into that hellish abyss it normally took to every night at midnight.

With dark green and red filling my field of vision, I pocketed my cell phone and watched with wonder as I saw the school transform from normal high school into a twisted, malformed tower.

I sighed as I reached into my messenger bag and, sure enough, found that the knife was still there. I pulled that out of the messenger bag and gripped it tight in my right hand. In my left sleeve was the card representing the Tower Arcana, ready to be slid down the sleeve and into my hand for when I needed to summon the beast within my head.

I also took the precaution of activating Beast Eye, despite the effects of it giving me a killer headache after. Over time, through activating and deactivating Beast Eye over the past two weeks, I had built up a form of tolerance for the aftereffect, and I had become much more adapt to the benefits of Beast Eye.

"_Are you ready for this?"_

I don't think I have much of a choice now, do I? If anything, it's more a matter of me trying my best to make sure I don't do anything stupid…

Walking back up to the magnificent staircase, I climbed up it. Seeing my hand glow that familiar blue, the clock parted and left the same opening like it did before. Seeing that it was big enough to walk through, I readied the knife and entered through.

* * *

_Inside the Tower: 2nd Floor_

The other side was…mystic. It was odd. It looked like the interior of Gekkoukan, but a lot of it was quite far off. The air had that eerie, Hell Time aura to it, but it also shared that warmth the lobby had.

Looking around, I noticed that bloodstains covered the walls and the checkerboard floor. I could see paths leading to the left and the right, but the center way was a no-go.

Taking the right path, I followed it until it ended in a large, open room with a silver briefcase and another blob squelching around. This one looked similar to the one from a few nights ago, but the mask it wore looked a bit different.

Sliding the card down my sleeve, I crushed the card to summon Hydra and had her fire ice shards into it. I could feel the air turn colder as the shards whizzed past me and into the blob- piercing it and watching it explode. I smirked. I managed to get this one by surprise- but they won't all be this easy.

Suddenly, I felt time stop. What the hell was going on?

"_Look in front of you."_ Turning my head, I saw that three cards, not unlike the card Hydra was summoned from, had materialized from thin air.

I noticed that each of them had a 1 in the corners. The leftmost one had the picture of a red spear, the centermost one had a yellow coin on it, and the rightmost one had a green wand on it. The cards then turned over and shuffled around momentarily before stopping again.

…Was this some kind of magical three-card Monte? Having paying attention to the order of the cards, I tapped on the image of the rightmost one. The cards turned over and, sure enough, I got the one I was aiming for, which was the one depicting the coin.

The coin card disappeared, and time seemed to continue on, as I felt myself to be back where I once was. However, I was surprised to see that when I held up my left hand, a few coins appeared in it. Curious, I looked in my hand.

…A 500-yen, a 100-yen, a 50-yen and 3-10 yen coins.

Hydra, help me out here.

"_Yes, child?"_

I want you to help me piece together something.

_"By all means, child."_

Okay, so let me get this straight. Before I used Mabufu, Beast Eye picked up that it belonged to the Magician Arcana. And both you and I represent the Tower Arcana. Those are all major Arcana, but what of the minor Arcana?

_"In a standard tarot deck, there exist 22 cards depicting the major Arcana, and 54 cards depicting the four suits of the minor Arcana- the suit of Swords, the suit of Wands, the suit of Pentacles or Coins, and the suit of Cups."_

…Interesting. The Tarot seems to have a grander implication than what I once thought.

_"You'd be surprised to see what your world classifies as fiction, but actually could be true."_

Don't pull this shit on me right now, Hydra. There's more exploring to be done.

_"Very well, but you should probably kick open that chest and see what's inside."_

Oh right, that chest. Walking over to it, I fiddled with the opening, but when I did, I managed to pull out a weird, gray looking sphere that looked like it belonged on a prayer necklace and was able to fit quite nicely in the palm of my hand.

…A bead? What the hell would a bead be doing inside of a chest inside of a twisted high school that turns into a twisted tower at a hidden hour that turns the world into an absolute abyss and…-

_"Shut up. You're giving me a headache. But I can at least tell you that there's restorative qualities about it."_

So you're telling me that this is a healing item? Well, I guess that can be kept in the messenger bag for a while.

Back into the mentality of exploring and combat, I followed a short path that led to another large, open room with a staircase, but it was a dead end. Not knowing where the stairs would lead to, I wanted to turn back in order to try and fully explore this floor before I did anything else.

I ran into another one of those masked blobs, but my knife was able to make short work out of it. This one I wasn't able to take by surprise, so there was no mental three-card Monte after I stabbed at it.

Taking the other path, I was led down a string of corridors, encountering a few more blobs that I was able to kill with a few knife slashes, but I was shocked to see that when a blob exploded, it exploded into four other of the similar blobs I had been killing before. The fact that they could explode into more of their own was quite irritating, but led to me feeling a little bit better. After killing the small horde with another storm of ice shards, I felt a little bit stronger and more alert afterwards. Noticing that Hell Time was about to end, I drew another money card from Mental from three-card Monte, grabbed another chest that held- I shit you not, a katana. Granted, it looked pretty shoddy and you could easily tell it was an imitation, but a katana **is** a katana.

The fact that it resembles a sword is **probably** better than some run-of-the-mill kitchen knife, but that's not a certainty. I guess it'll be probably better in the long run.

Being able to keep it in my messenger bag, I hit a dead end and eventually left the tower after returning to the main lobby through the clock entryway.

After walking back home with some time to spare in Hell Time, I went up to my room and looked at myself.

I felt… stronger. It was weird, but I felt more powerful after extinguishing some blobs.

_"Perhaps there are more than just those things awaiting upstairs. Should we progress further another night?"_

That definitely sounds like a smart idea. But, for now, it seems like we have only the hour-long limitation to oppose us. I guess now, is just a matter of waiting.

* * *

-**Time Skip: Approximately 7 months later-**

* * *

_04/06/2010- Hell Time_

Hey, Hydra?

_"Yes?"_

Who's that random blue-haired kid who's walking about?

_"One second… Okay. His name is Minato Arisato, of the Fool Arcana."_

Fool Arcana…? I can honestly say we've never seen one of those.

_"It's quite intriguing. I can feel a Persona stirring, but it feels as if there's more to it- like he could potentially have multiple Personas."_

Weird… I wonder what he's doing out here.

"Yo!" I called out. He turned to face me and gave me a small smile.

"Oh, hey there." He said, with calm intrigue. "I haven't seen anyone else out here for a while. I was wondering if you could help me out." Now that he was closer to me, I could make out a better description than blue hair and a high school kid. The high school specifically was Gekkoukan, as indicated by the uniform he wore. I also saw that he had headphones clipped to his ears and his mp3 player was worn around his neck. He had dull, grey colored eyes, with his bangs coming down over one of them, and a small smirk on his face.

"Sure thing. I can try and help ya out. What's up?" I asked him, pausing as he tried his best to fiddle with a paper map.

"I'm afraid I'm a little lost. Do you think you could walk me to the Iwatodai dorms?" Having only known of the location through some friends, I smirked and started walking.

"Follow me. And I'll try my best to fill you in on just what's going on right now.

* * *

_04/07/2009- Early Morning (12:15 AM)_

"…That's essentially what I know. It's not much by any standards, but it's what I've been able to piece together with the knowledge and experience I've had for maybe… 6 or 7 months now."

The boy, who I learned to be Minato Arisato, gave me a smirk.

"No problem there, mate. It must be pretty crazy to experience every night."

"I've been working on a fix for the problem involving electronics going out, but I don't have much luck at the moment." I turned to look up at the massive building in front of us and gestured to it. "Here we are, at the Iwatodai dorms. I've actually never been in here and have only heard about it from my friends, but I'm sure you'll learn to live with it."

"I guess so, Adam." We shook hands and I turned to walk back home. "Will I see you at school today?" I shook my head.

"I graduated a few weeks ago with an 89% average. I'm just working now to get some money before I head off for college." Minato nodded at me.

"Well, take care of yourself. I'm sure we'll be meeting each other again soon."

"It's strange, but I do as well." I waved at him, and then I began to walk back home.

_"It's past 12 now, do you think your mom and dad will be concerned about you staying out?"_

I told them I was sleeping over at one of the guy's place. I'm covered.

_"I suppose we should be on our way then."_

Looks like, eh? All in all, he's a nice kid. I'm sure he'll do just fine.

* * *

_Thou art I, and I art thou._

_Thy will soon discover thy new power…_

_Let thy bonds thou create benefit thy ability_

_Thy hast also discovered the bond of the Tower…_

* * *

**A/N: After however long this took, it's finally done, and we can move on to the plot that is Persona 3. Anyone with questions, know that they will be answered within due time. I've gotten a few, but it'll all make sense in the long run, trust me.**

**In addition, I should probably explain what happened in the time skip. All that needs to be known at the moment is that Adam trained up to the first barricade of Thebel- gaining experience, gems, and many Shuffle Times along the way.**

**For those curious as to Hydra's current status, Hydra is Level 60 (all that experience adds up) and has the following moveset:**

**Bufudyne**

**Mudoon**

**Mabufula**

**Mamudoon**

**Myriad Arrows**

**Marakunda**

**Invigorate 2**

**Beast Eye**

**Seems a little OP, eh? Well, Hydra will get her moments of asskicking soon, trust me. Also, next chapter will probably lead to a brief change in the POV. It's nothing big, but it'll make sense in the story once it happens.**


	3. The Start of Something Wonderful

**A/N: This chapter is a little different, as we will do something unusual, and that is a POV change. It will be happen all of three times for this story, but you probably won't see it again for a while. Because of this, character knowledge and thoughts will change. In this first instance, we will be in the eyes of Minato instead of Adam, so that means no Hydra one-liners. :| I'm gonna miss writing them…**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

As I turned my head to look at the front of the dorm building, I felt time stop. My vision darkened, and I saw a tarot card depicting the Tower spin in.

"_Thou art I… And I art thou."_ I heard a weird, monotone voice speak from within my head. "_Thy will soon discover thy new power… Let thy bonds thou create benefit thy unforeseen power… Thou hast started the Tower Social Link."_

…Pardon me? An unforeseen power? Social Link? What the hell was going on…? Regardless, the moment that creepy voice stopped talking, time seemed to resume again. Adam was off walking in the opposite direction, going to who knows where.

Hmm… He did say something about a job. I wonder exactly where he works. But, there were more pressing matters at hand, such as me getting into the dorm.

Opening the dorm, I walked in, seeing that I was in a rather nice-looking lounge. The room was moderately furnished- I could see some chairs and tables, a kitchen/bar setup to my left and a spiral staircase leading to what I assumed were the actual rooms.

However, I was not alone in the lobby. I was also in the presence of two beautiful girls. One of which was a tall girl with long red hair and eyes to match. She wore the female uniform for Gekkoukan, but it was topped off with an impressively large red bow and a red armband around her right arm.

The other girl was also in the female Gekkoukan uniform, but she wore a pink cardigan overtop… and a **rather** short skirt. In addition to all of the leg not being covered by that skirt, there was a holster striped to her thigh, in which held… a **gun?**

Eep. Remind me not to make her angry anytime soon. She had short, brown hair and matching eyes. She looked a little on the apprehensive side, and seemed to be quite nervous, in direct contrast to the other girl's calm movements.

"I didn't think you'd arrive this late" The redhead began, crossing her arms over her chest. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live at this dorm, and a third year at Gekkoukan High." She then gestured to the girl beside me. "This here is Yukari Takeba- she'll be a junior this spring just like you."

"…Hey." She greeted awkwardly.

"Pardon me for interrupting…" I began. "But am I supposed to be here? I was told that I was supposed to live in the boy's dorms…"

Mitsuru and Yukari both exchanged a glance, and they both shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure about what the cause is behind that." Mitsuru told me, in a calm, but controlling tone. "But for the time being, this is where you'll be." I shrugged.

"I guess my next question would be as to why you have that gun." I began, hesitantly gesturing to the holster still strapped to Yukari's leg. She seemed to be caught off guard by that question.

"Uh…" She stammered. "Y'see, it's kind of like a hobby. I guess not really like a hobby, but…"

"You know how it is these days." Mitsuru cut in, preventing Yukari from digging herself into a deeper hole than she was already. "It's not real, but you'd be surprised what a real gun could do in self-defense."

…Should I ask them about him? Well, he did say that he had graduated already… But maybe they might know him.

"I hate to bother again, but I have another question." I began, getting both girls' attention. "On my way over here, I met someone. Does he go here?"

This caught both girls off guard. Even Mitsuru, who had been calm and collected this entire time, faltered.

"…Who was it that you met?" Mitsuru asked.

"It was this guy. Kinda short, kinda intimidating, but really nice and funny. He said he had graduated last month… that his name was Adam Hiikaze or something." Yukari still gave me an unknowing look, but Mitsuru's eyes lit up again.

"Hiikaze…" Mitsuru muttered under her breath. "I wouldn't worry about him for now. In the meantime though, you should get some rest. After all, it's been a long night for you, I can imagine. Your room is on the second floor, on the far right. Whatever things you sent for beforehand are already there."

"Here, I'll show you the way. Follow me." Yukari smiled before beginning to walk up the stairs, with me behind her. Walking down the hall and up the stairs and down another hall, we reached the door to my room.

* * *

"Geez, this place is pretty big… How many rooms are there?" I asked Yukari, trying to strike up conversation with her.

"Well, there's the 8 boys room on this floor, and another 8 for the girls on the third floor. Hardly any of the rooms are filled, though. From what I've heard, it's you, me, Mitsuru-sempai and another person named Akihiko… And even then, you may be moving out just as quick as you got here." Shaking her head, she gestured awkwardly to the door. "Here you go! It's pretty easy to remember, since it's right at the edge of the hall…" Yukari paused. "Oh, make sure you never lose the key to your room, or you'll **never** hear the end of it."

To me, the way she said that made it sound like she was speaking from experience.

"I suppose that would be quite a problem." I mused. She giggled softly.

"Well, you seem like you're on top of things, so I wouldn't worry about it. So, do you have any other questions?" I looked around and shrugged.

"Ah, not really. But I'm still wondering about that guy I saw earlier…"

"I'm not so sure on what you saw, but maybe you'll see him again. In the meantime, I suggest that you went and got some sleep."

That may have been the best idea that I've heard all night. Saying good night to Yukari, I entered my room. Far too tired to unpack everything or anything, I fell asleep in my uniform after colliding on the bed.

* * *

Morning may not have treated me any better than last night, but I at least felt somewhat refreshed.

Shortly after waking up, I was greeted with a knock on the door from Yukari. Opening it, she began to talk about how she was going to take me to school. Having only heard a few remarks about it from Adam, I decided it was probably a good idea to go with her.

On the way to the monorail to take us to school, Yukari told me that she had forgot to ask me about last night, and seeing if everything was "okay". I told her yes, because I had been long adjusted to the "Hell Time" that Adam spoke of, and to me, it wasn't a big deal. Except for that whole deal about electronics going out- that pissed me off to no end.

Speaking of electronics, I had been able to clip on my headphones and play some good tracks to jam out to on the good, old-fashioned way to school.

After getting off the monorail with Yukari and reaching the gates of the school, I was shocked to see it was rather… impressive in size. But this time, it was horizontally impressive, not vertically impressive.

"_Oi, here's something you should probably learn." Adam told me as we walked. "Y'see that giant, skyscraper like thing out in the distance there? Every night at this time, Gekkoukan High turns into that behemoth. Quite a marvel if I'd say so myself. I've been in that twisted tower…"_

Having some flashbacks to the talk with Adam, I noticed that Yukari and I had subconsciously been walking closer to the actual school without even noticing it.

* * *

"You're okay to go on your own from here, right?" Yukari asked me once we got into the school. "Once you find out who your homeroom teacher is, you should go talk to them. Whoever it is, they'll probably be in the faculty office, which is through the doors on the left." She turned to face me, flashing me a chipper smile. "Any questions?"

"Do you know what class you're in?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I'm not too sure… I haven't looked at the class lists yet. But I hope it's not Ekoda-sensei…" She whispered the last part, rolling her eyes. "I need to go take care of stuff for archery club, so I'll see you later! Also, try to keep what you saw last night under wraps as well as you can." And just like that, Yukari walked away, off to god knows where.

Now on my own, I made the decision to walk up to the bulletin board in an attempt to find my name. After searching through the rosters, I only found my name on a small, post-it note that stated I was in class F. Looking to see that the homeroom teacher for class F was Ms. Toriumi; I walked over to the Faculty Lounge and opened the door.

Nobody else was in here, except for a middle-aged woman in a pink suit with brown hair, carrying a folder that I could see had my name on it.

"Oh, you must be the new student." She began. "Minato Arisato… 11th Grade, correct?" She then opened the file and began to glance at the contents. "Wow… You've lived in a lot of different places…" She then paused as she read over what I assumed was something key. "In 1999… Your parents…" She paused. I sighed.

It really didn't seem like such a big deal, having lived as an orphan for 10 years, but everyone else seemed… off put by it. "You'll have to forgive me, I haven't had the time to read over your file."

I shrugged. "No skin off my back." She smiled awkwardly.

"In any case, I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition, and it also looks like I'm your homeroom teacher. But before that starts, we have the Welcoming Ceremony to attend. Follow me to the auditorium." Ah shit. Seeing as how I didn't have much of a choice, I begrudgingly trailed behind Ms. Toriumi until we got to the auditorium. Just watch, this is going to be some principal droning on for an eternity with no emotion in his voice.

* * *

I want it on the record that I **totally** called that it would be a principal droning on and on.

"As you begin the new school year…"

Nope. Not today, or ever. As stealthily as I could, I clipped a headphone to my right ear and began to focus my attention on just how pretty the floor was. I thought I heard someone trying to get my attention, but Toriumi busted him pretty quick. Jeez, this could not end well…

At least after that little stitch of time spent in Hell, we went back to class and everything progressed pretty well. We didn't go over a whole lot because it was mostly just introductory stuff, but all in all, it was shaping up to be a pretty good year.

* * *

On my way out after class, I ran into another member of the class. He was kinda tall and needed a shave, but he looked to be a pretty good guy. He was also able to get away with wearing a baseball cap inside the school.

"S'up dude?" He said as he greeted me. "How's it going?"

"It's alright, man. It's alright. And for yourself?" I replied. To be fair, he was showing simple courtesy, so it was only natural for me to show it back to him. After all, you get what you put in with people.

"I'm feeling good, mate. Feeling good. I heard you're the new kid on the block, as a former new kid, just thought I'd say, hey. The name's Junpei Iori, by the way." I smirked. He seemed like a good guy.

"Minato Arisato." I greeted. We both then turned to see Yukari walk over to us.

"Yo, Yuka-tan." …Yuka-tan? As in the Mexican city Yucatan? Never mind. "I'm surprised to see we're in the same class together." Yukari rolled her eyes.

"At it again, eh? I'd swear you'll talk to anyone if they'd listen to you. Have you ever thought that you might be bothering someone?" I snickered and Junpei rolled his eyes.

"What? I'm just being friendly to the new guy is all…"

"If that's what you're calling it, then be my guest." Yukari looked around at us, then at me. "Hey, it looks like the three of us have the same homeroom."

"Must be fate." I dismissed offhandedly. Junpei chuckled and Yukari sighed.

"Fate? Yeah… right. But to be honest, I'm rather surprised. And looking at the rest of the class, it seems like it couldn't have been any better." Junpei and I both shrugged.

"Y'know Yuka-tan, you can at least make it look like I'm still in the conversation and not be staring into Minato-kun's eyes the entire time." I gave an awkward cough and Yukari's face turned bright red. "Besides, I heard you two came to school together this morning… You guys gotta give me the dirt!"

I skipped lunch but I still felt something choke in my throat after he said that. Yukari was completely red now.

"We live in the same dorm." Yukari began, trying to restrain herself. "That's. All. There's nothing going on between him and me. Now stop worrying about it! I can't believe people would even talk about such a stupid thing…" She then turned to me. "Look, you didn't tell anything to anyone about what had happened last night, right?"

I swear, this girl should carry a shovel for all of the holes she's dug herself in. At least this time, she caught herself and facepalmed right after.

"…No." I began, facepalming myself.

"I'm being serious! Don't say anything to anyone!"

Meanwhile, Junpei, who had been keeping silent for the most part, had now lost it and lit up like a Christmas tree.

"L-last night…?" He turned to me, and then to Yukari, and then back to me.

…He should probably swap out that dual-core he's got up in there for an i5. I think he's now starting to overclock.

Yukari, not willing or capable of taking much more, excused herself because of some thing she had to do for archery club, leaving Junpei and I behind in the class.

"Big deal." He mused offhand. "Nobody really cares about rumors around here anyways. Just by listening at the front gate, you're bound to hear a new one everyday… But, day one and you're already getting talked about? Quite a show you put on. You da man!"

I laughed at his word choice there. "Say, Junpei, you wanna go out and hit the town? I got nothing better to do." He looked me straight in the eyes and smiled.

"You already wanna go out? This is gonna be a good year. I can feel it in my bones."

* * *

After hitting the town with Junpei, I came back to the dorm, being greeted warmly by Mitsuru and signing in on the sign-in sheet, I realized that there wasn't a whole lot for me to do at nighttimes. So, I went up to my room, did some moderate unpacking before calling it a night, sleeping through Hell Time like always.

The next morning, I came to the shocking realization that I don't like mornings. I don't like anything about them, and I want them to die. Die in a very big fire.

This time, there was no Yukari to take me to school, so I was at least be able to get ready and leave on my own terms, which was pretty good. I figured if I could do that on a regular basis, then mornings wouldn't suck… as much.

Sure enough, when I got to the main gate of the school, I overheard (through my music, mind you), two girls talking about the most random rumor.

…Huh. Looks like Junpei was right. I'll have to mention that to him the next time I see him.

…Maybe not. He seems like the kind that would never let you forget it.

* * *

Although for all that could be said about Junpei and his correctness, not a whole lot could be said on the grounds of his ability to answer Ms. Toriumi's questions right. I mean really, how could he not know that her favourite author was Kubota?

…Oh wait, he was sleeping. That's why. At least people thought I was cool for giving him the right answer.

* * *

With classes done and Junpei nowhere to be found, I decided to take the long way home, through the strip mall.

…When the Moon's Reaching Out for Stars- Reincarnation Mix seemed like a good choice for the walk home.

However, when I did manage to make it to the dorm, I was greeted by an older gentleman with glasses and hair essentially like a mullet, sitting in a chair and talking with Yukari.

"So, this is the new guest." He then got up from his seat in order to shake my hand. "Good evening Minato-kun. My name is Shuji Itkutsuki, the Chairman of the Board for Gekkoukan." He then tilted his head in a confused manner. "It..kut…suki. Kinda hard to say, isn't it? That's why I'm not all that big on introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes."

…Is this guy for real?

"…It certainly has moments where it could be difficult to say." I mused, deciding it was best if I played along with him. Smiling at me, he returned to his former seat, with me sitting beside Yukari.

"I want to start by apologizing for the miscommunications behind your dorm arrangements. We're working on a fix, but it may take some time before it all gets properly ironed out. Now, I'm just here to talk to Mitsuru-san for a minute or two, but I'd like to ask you if you had any questions. After all, you did just move here a few days ago."

…Maybe he knows something about Adam?

"I just have one quick question, and it's about a guy named Adam Hiikaze." Itkutsuki raised an eyebrow and began to think.

"From what I can remember, Hiikaze was one of the graduating students from last year's class. I had never met him personally, but you're not the first person to mention his name before. I believe Mitsuru was also asking questions about him…"

Well, he didn't have much, but at least I know he existed not only as a figment of my imagination.

"I see. Thank you."

"I wouldn't stress over it so much. However, I do wish that you have a successful school year."

"If nobody else minds, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and crash." I stated. I think that walk might've been **too **leisurely…

"That sounds like a good idea, and you know what they say- the early bird catches the bookworm!"

…**UGH.**

* * *

_…Eh? What the… What kind of dream was this? I saw a rapidly passing floor, and then I was shoved through an open door that was solid blue._

_What was on the other side was quite crazy. For one, it looked like I was in a rather large elevator. And for two, there was a **crazy suited man with a big long nose** waiting on the other side of the table. And beside him was an attractive woman with platinum hair and bright yellow eyes dressed in a crazy blue getup._

_"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man." The man began. "My name is Igor, and I am rather pleased to make your acquaintance. Now, it didn't look so intimidating, as there was now a table between us and I was in a comfortable, lyre-shaped chair. "This is Elizabeth." Igor then gestured to the girl at his side. "She is a resident of this room, like myself._

_"Pleased to meet you." She smiled at me._

_"This place exists between dream and reality… mind and matter. It's been years like you since we've had a guest…" Igor then magically conjured a piece of paper and placed it on the table between us. "But before we can continue, we must ask that you sign this contract. It is a binding document that simply states that you will accept your own choices, and that whatever fate you choose, you choose of your own free will."_

_I looked at the paper, and sure enough, that's what it said. And, in all seriousness, that seems like just basic stuff. Really, who wouldn't accept the consequences of their own actions?_

_Pulling out a pen that had magically been conjured within my uniform pocket, I signed the contract._

_"Only those who have signed a contract like this may enter the Velvet Room. From here on out, you will always be welcome here. You will be destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask for but a single action on your part- you abide by the contract and assume any consequences for the choices you make."_

_"Done and done, sir." I replied, smiling at him, to which he smiled back before waving his right arm._

_"I want you to hold onto this." He began, offering me a dark blue key attached by a dark blue chain to a dark blue key chain in the shape of a spade._

_…I think these guys may like the colour blue in here._

_"Until we meet again…" Igor paused, and I felt myself wake up._

Good god… was that just a dream? Some crazy, sugar-induced dream? Curious, I reached into the pocket of my uniform.

I then pulled out a dark blue key.

**Mother of God.**

* * *

I ran into Junpei on my way to school at the gate, and he seemed to be just as happy in the mornings as he was in the afternoons. I hadn't fully woken up yet, and it wasn't helping that I was just a victim of dream invasion.

"What's good, man? Today is a perfect day!" He greeted. "The sky is blue… We're young… What more could we ask for, really?"

"More rest." I told him.

"You kidding me man? I'm not sick! Forget all that you know about the old Junpei… cause this is the **new me!"**

It's amazing how much old Junpei and new Junpei seemed surprisingly similar.

* * *

Aside from having to learn about classic lit in school today (and not being able to fall asleep during the lecture), not a whole lot was terrible. I decided to get a better look at the station with Junpei after school. Him and I were getting along quite well, so I was having no oppositions to hanging around with him. After all, guy **was** pretty cool.

Nothing really exciting happened at the dorms when I got back, but I did find myself staying awake through Hell Time for once as of recent. I heard some commotion coming from down in the main lobby and what felt like a goddamn earthquake before I heard frantic knocking on my door.

"It's Yukari! Are you awake?" Before getting a chance to respond, she spoke again. "Sorry, I'm coming in!" She then barged in, carrying a bow and a shortsword. "I don't have time to explain, but I need you to come with me, now!" I then felt another of the earthquakes. "Take this!" She then handed me the shortsword and we began the trek downstairs.

Getting to the back door, we were about to go through when Yukari was interrupted by the sound of electronic beeping.

…And here I was thinking electronics didn't work now. Maybe they can see about working on a fix for my music problem…

"Yes, I read you!" Yukari seemed to say to almost no one. "Wait, what!"

And then, I heard smashing on the door. Whatever was on the other side wanted in- by any means necessary. By this point, I could easily say we were dealing with something inhuman right now.

"Pull back!" Yukari told me. "We'll head upstairs!" Running up from the first floor to the fourth in what felt like record time, we made it to the roof, that unnatural thing hot on our tail.

Making it on to the roof, Yukari unleashed a sigh of relief as she locked the door behind us.

…And then, the earthquakes continued. And in the dark green sky, behind the pale light of a full moon, I saw it rise up from above. It had scaled the entire dormitory and was now up on the roof.

…To put it best, this thing was a monster. It was a mass of shadowy arms that each carried a sharp sword and one arm held a blue mask up high. There were so many arms, I couldn't even see the core.

"Those monsters…" Yukari began. "We call them shadows." She reached into the holster for the fake gun Mitsuru had said it was earlier and pressed it up to her forehead.

That shadow didn't seem all too keen on that, so it rushed her and knocked her to the ground, the pistol sliding towards my feet.

"**GET DOWN UP THERE!"**

…Wait, what?

"**MYRIAD ARROWS!"** Whoa, **WHAT? **I ran and pushed my back against the wall as I saw a rain of arrows fall upon the giant blob that attacked Yukari, herself and I being unharmed from the assault.

From a neighboring rooftop, I was able to see who called out the attack. He stood defiantly as he wore a dark black hood that covered his face and a dark messenger bag sat at his side.

"Adam?" I called out.

"The one and the same, Minato!" He replied, a smile appearing on his face. "It's not safe up here, so take the girl and find some cover! Hydra and I will take care of the ugly mofo over there."

I then walked over to the pistol and smiled. It was a wide, sadistic smile that glowed in the night.

"I got this one, Adam. Just watch… I have a feeling." Adam was about to move, but noticing what I was doing, he stopped, and laughed to himself. As I put the barrel up to my head, I felt the image of a young girl with black hair and blue eyes flash briefly before my eyes.

"_Go on."_

"**Persona!"**

I pulled the trigger. As smoke billowed from the barrel, I felt myself encased in a tornado of blue shards of broken glass.

"_Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh. I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."_

The shards of glass had now revealed the image of a figure with cylindrical legs and gloved arms and mechanical joints. The head had white hair and he let loose a ferocious roar.

"Just as I thought…" I heard Adam muse.

Shortly after, something went wrong. Terribly wrong. I felt an immense pain in my head before the image of Orpheus exploded into a figure of pure black with a wicked sword and a chain of nine coffins hovering like a cape. The figure let loose a loud roar before charging the shadow, sword drawn and utterly slaughtering it.

Within a few cuts, the shadow had been reduced to nothing but a large pile of black liquid.

The last thing I saw was Orpheus regain his form before falling unconscious.

* * *

**A/N: Holy shit, a lot just happened within this chapter. I guess I'll just explain some things that are key to this story.**

**First off: I will reveal one of the pairings now because it's been shown within the story. Minato/Yukari will be a main pairing in this fic, and depending on how it all goes, Dreams and Deliverance (another Persona story I wrote) may become canon to this universe.**

**Also, next chapter will be back to the POV of Adam and Hydra, so there will be more sarcastic remarks.**

**Next chapter will see Minato reawaken, as well as showcase Adam's first contact with S.E.E.S.**


	4. We're A Team Now?

When you told me you felt multiple Personae within him… you weren't kidding, eh Hydra? That thing that Orpheus turned into… My god.

_"I know what you mean, Adam… I could sense the killing intent from that thing a mile away…"_

What do you think that was? Did Beast Eye get an analysis?

_"I got something off of Beast Eye. That was called Thanatos, and he belonged to the Death Arcana. Resists Strike and Slash, Repels Darkness and Weak to Light. Knows Ghastly Wail, Tempest Slash and Megidola."_

…Holy fuck. If that's just only one Persona he's capable of summoning, I don't want to see the power of something else he could summon…

I noticed that there were two of the normal blobs that must have been left behind from the bigger one earlier. Crushing the card for Hydra, I ordered a Mabufula to impale them both, sending a squelching noise as the ice shards impaled through them.

Now that there were no more blobs of doom and with no remnants but black stains on the roof, I deactivated Beast Eye and turned to look at the other teenagers.

Minato was facedown on the ground, more than likely unconscious. As for the girl…

She looked to be okay, actually. She slowly got up, still processing the situation at hand.

She stared at me, then at Minato, then back to me. After noticing that he was out, she rushed over to him.

"He'll be okay." I told her, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "He just needs to rest." I walked over to the two teens slowly and sighed softly. Beast Eye was able to pick up vitals from him, so he wasn't dead. Plus, I highly doubt that Minato would give up easy like that.

"You…you're Hiikaze, aren't you?" I smirked. Guess Minato had been talking about me.

"That's me." I responded. "But you can just call me Adam. It's easier that way." I shrugged. "So, I see he just awoke to his Persona, eh?" I sighed. "He's just unconscious right now, but you guys should still take him to a hospital." I then turned to the girl. "You mind if I cut through the dorm? It's easier than having to jump across roofs."

We then both turned to see the door open and we saw three people come from the other side. The girl seemed happy to see them, but I didn't really care.

_"Adam, those are the two who you were able to tell that they had Personae activated."_

…Well, well. Here we are. And, now that we're on the topic, it seems that the other girl has a Persona also.

The redhead walked over to the girl and started looking after her and Minato, but the silver-haired boy stared at me with killing intent, and the man in glasses seemed to wear a wicked smirk.

…Nothing about that guy seems right. Regardless, I could see one of the boy's hands reach for the summoning pistol at his waist, but I laughed.

"Watch yourself, guy." I began. "That weakness you have to ice won't do you much good against a Bufudyne now, will it?" I smirked and he looked absolutely shocked.

"Now, now…" The older man said. "Let's not make any rash decisions on either side." I laughed and activated Beast Eye again. "You must be Adam Hiikaze."

"You all must've heard of me from Minato-san, correct?" I remarked, tilting my head to the side quizzically. "It would make sense. After all, the kid just shows up in Hell Time with no other explanation, and as far as I've seen, you four seem to be the only ones who aren't coffins at the moment."

I turned to look at the girls and Minato. "He'll be fine, but he's probably going to be out for at least a week. I've never seen a summoning that brutal before."

"The hell's wrong with your eyes?" The boy asked me, still in a form of panic. "One moment they were brown, but now they're blood red…" I shrugged.

"I'm not too sure myself. If I were to guess, I'd say it's a side effect of Beast Eye, but I can't give anyone a straight answer."

_"If I were to take a guess, I'd say it might be a way of self-control. After all, you __**did**__ just activate Beast Eye twice in the same night."_

"Beast Eye?"

"A skill from my Persona."

"So that means you've got a Persona too..."

Oh god damnit. They're actually kind of slow putting this together. Sighing softly, I rubbed my temple as I slid the card back down from my sleeve and crushed the card to summon Hydra.

The reactions were…mixed. The boy looked unimpressed, the redhead seemed intrigued, the brunette looked absolutely frightened and the older man just wore another wicked grin.

…Remember what I said about that guy? Yeah, he just looked even **more** sinister.

As Hydra faded, I could feel Hell Time fade away also, leaving us on the roof of the dorm, but the air seemed to lessen and it felt more serene with the sound of life returning to normal.

"I suppose though, now that Hell Time is over, I should properly introduce myself to you all. My name is Adam Hiikaze, and my Persona is Hydra, of the Tower Arcana. I have had her since last September and I graduated Gekkoukan last month. Are there any other questions anyone may have?" I looked around to see that nobody really wanted to say anything. Good. "If there are no questions, I'll be off." I was about to turn around and jump off the roof to a neighboring one, but I was stopped by the sound of the redhead speaking.

"We need your help." Excuse me?

"With?"

"You seem to know more about the Dark Hour than any of us, and judging by your showing of power, you would be a great help. We know very little of what's going on right now, and we're not at the liberty to pick and choose whatever strength we can have, due to the rare nature of your ability. So, we need you."

…They're acting as if they want me to join some organization.

_"That's because they are."_

I'm afraid I don't follow.

_"Have you not been paying attention to the red armbands they're all wearing?"_ I then noticed that the two girls and the teenage guy all wore the armbands.

…Well damn. You think I would've caught on to something like that.

_"You should be thankful that I'm up in here to notice things like that."_

Shut up. Even if they are an organization, they're rather disorganized.

"I don't suppose you could tell me more?" I asked. The girl looked to the older man and nodded before turning back to me.

"Yes, very well. But we should discuss such a matter in a better place."

* * *

After properly seeing that Minato got his way to the hospital with the brunette at his side, I followed the other three into a room that probably looked like it was used for meetings- there was a big executive chair and a few, fancy-looking computers running what seemed to be security programs.

"I must say…" Mitsuru began as she sat in the executive's chair. "You're quite the interesting case. I had always believed that people needed Evokers to awaken to a Persona, but you seem to be able to just use a card to summon your Persona." I shrugged as I opened a can of Coke from my messenger bag and placed it on the table that was in front of me.

"It's weird for me to see you use the pistols to summon." I replied. "But then again, having used the card for eight months or so would make any other way seem completely out of the ordinary."

"I suppose I should cut to the chase and tell you what we do. When you were at Gekkoukan, did you ever hear of a group called S.E.E.S.?" I thought for a moment. I had seen the name on a few official documents, but they were mostly just club rosters. None of the student body had ever really talked about it, present company excluded.

"I've only heard the name once or twice before now."

"To avoid any problems with the school, we're billed as an after-school study program for those who live here at the dorms. But our true purpose is to fight what you saw earlier- the Shadows that come from Tartarus."

"Is that what you guys call that tower that Gekkoukan turns into every night at the Dark Hour?" I asked her, to which I was given a nod. To be entirely fair, I really **do** prefer my own name over the ones they have, but I should probably use their names instead.

"Since you've been aware of the current state of affairs for a while, there's a lot I don't have to explain. However, I will state that we **do** need your strength in order to continue." She began as I absentmindedly took a sip from my drink. "The shadows will only continue to get even more ferocious than tonight, and I wouldn't be surprised if they started to stray out of Tartarus even more then they do normally." Another sip. "As I said before, the power of Persona is quite limited, and we don't have the option to pass up on any strength we may have."

I smirked. Really, their operation consisted of Mitsuru, Akihiko and that deranged faculty guy with a penchant for looking like a slasher movie villain. And, as I had also learned, the brunette was a member and, when he got out of the hospital and should he say yes, Minato will be also.

"You guys don't look to be in the greatest state of affairs, and this could eventually become a matter of a life and death." I sighed. "Aah, fuck it. I don't have anything better to do. I'll help you guys out for the time being." Akihiko smirked, Mitsuru smiled and the psycho continued to look as such.

Oh good lord, what in the world did I just get myself into…?

* * *

In order for me to become a fully-fledged member of S.E.E.S. however, there were some procedures that needed to happen.

Firstly, I had to move out of my parent's house and into the dorms with them. This wasn't a whole big problem for me, as my parents seemed to be okay with me moving in to "help with a study program", or as they so put it to me. And to be fair, I could always walk over- the dorms weren't that far from my house. I later learned it was because that most operations would occur at night or during the Dark Hour and they didn't want to be deterred by me not being able to leave with them. I also learned it was because they wanted me to readily socialize and talk to everyone else and "get to know them", which was kind of stupid, but I allowed it.

Secondly, I was given an Evoker, because all members were required to have one. It was marginally easier to summon Hydra with it compared to the card method, but it felt unnatural, as it was essentially shooting myself in the temple to unleash a mythological beast from the depths of my mind.

Thirdly, I was told that the brunette was another member of the group also- her name was Yukari and she was a second-year at Gekkoukan. Akihiko and Mitsuru were both third-years, and I was out of school. Because of this, I was given some authority in regards to possible Tartarus visits, but it mainly depended on when we decided to go for the "first time".

Fourthly, I'm still the strongest out of all of us. Akihiko and Mitsuru may have had theirs longer (apparently), but they never trained theirs like I did mine. It's strange, but I wasn't going to question it.

Fifthly and finally, I learned that repeated exposure to Beast Eye made my real eyes go a little screwy. It wasn't as bad if I activated it with an hour apart or so, but five minutes right after each activation in one Dark Hour tended to make them a little fucked up.

That whole process took me about a week to do, but that week, as I predicted was the amount of time Minato spent in the hospital. We had agreed to talk to him about S.E.E.S. and the matter of his joining, which was why him walking in to see me surprised him.

"Evening, mate." I greeted as I saw him walk in. "How's it like being back?" Minato just gave me a confused look.

"This is a school dorm." He began. "You don't go to school." I laughed at him.

"Y'know, by the way it sounds, it seems like you're opposed to me being here, Captain Obvious." He laughed and sat in the chair opposite me.

"Not in the slightest." He unclipped his right headphone and clipped it to the collar of his uniform shirt.

"It'll all make sense in a few hours cause Mitsuru and some other people want to talk to you, but until then, Coke?" I asked him, producing another can from my messenger bag at my side. Minato smiled.

"You can produce cans of Coke from effectively a hammerspace messenger bag?" I smirked.

"Not hammerspace, but it might as well be…"

* * *

Minato and I talked for some time in the lounge, each of us drinking from our Coke cans and discussing trivialities.

When we heard Mitsuru, Yukari and Akihiko came down from the stairs to get us, we went back up to the 4th floor meeting room and he was given a rundown of our current state of affairs- that is, the existence of the Dark Hour, our Personas, Tartarus and all of the other shenanigans that transpired within the week.

"So… Let me get this straight. What you guys are saying is that, every night at midnight, in a completely hidden hour, the high school I attend turns into a giant monstrous tower that holds giant blobs of darkness that threaten the stability of the very world around us. We don't know how **any** of it started, but we're the only ones who can deal with it." The other three gave each other worried glances, but I smirked.

"Does any of this sound familiar?" I asked him.

"And here I thought you were on some form of drugs." I laughed as I took another sip.

"It's one thing to hear it from some teenager on the street." I began. "It's another to actually experience it yourself. As you've heard, the situation looks grim and we don't know if an end is anywhere in sight. You want in?" I asked; taking the Evoker that was prepared for him out of the briefcase and offering it to him. "I can't promise you there'll be gratitude, and I can't promise that you'll ever be the same again. But I **can** promise you that it'll be the ultimate after-school activity that puts any other teams and sports clubs to shame. You up for it?." Minato gave a chuckle while I got a reprimanding look from Mitsuru.

"When you put it that way, Hiikaze-san, I've got no other choice." He arose from his chair and grabbed the pistol from my hand. "You can count me in."

* * *

Minato and I talked for a little bit longer after he agreed, and then we discussed a possible Tartarus visit the following day, now that there were three of us who could enter the field- Akihiko was injured in the previous fight with the big Shadow and Mitsuru would act as our mission control- giving us backup and analysis of the enemies. While I didn't need it because of Beast Eye, I would prefer if Minato and Yukari weren't completely in the dark.

Also, I learned that Thanatos wasn't Minato's actual Persona. Instead, his Persona was the much more tame Orpheus. With a weakness to electricity and darkness and knowing Bash and Agi, I certainly would've liked to have Thanatos instead of that, but we can't all have such nice things like that, now can we?

With a trip to Tartarus planned with others, I would have to change my strategy. I couldn't just blitz through the floors. I had to take this slow and worry about other people now.

_"I wouldn't worry about it. For now, just concentrate on activating Beast Eye and making sure you can get as many Shuffle Times as you can."_

True that, Hydra. True that.

* * *

**A/N: Y'know, there's not a whole lot to say after this one. Adam's with S.E.E.S., Minato's back in the dorm and Itkutsuki is being his normal, creepy self. Like always. Also, I think Adam's right to say that S.E.E.S. is the ultimate after-school club. Because, really, who wouldn't enjoy murdering shadows with the power of Personas? **

**Next time, Tartarus! I can tell you now, it'll end just as well as you think bringing a Level 60 into a dungeon with Level 1-3 enemies.**


	5. Unexpected Results

The trip Tartarus had been on everyone's minds, and everyone seemed to be in a general state of uneasiness. While I didn't particularly understand it myself, I did answer the few questions I got.

"_The reason why you don't understand their uneasiness is because you've been into that tower a multitude of times whereas they've only been aware of its existence for a few days."_

…Yeah, that's pretty much it. In order to kill time before the trip tonight, I went out to Paulownia.

Turns out that Paulownia has a lot more to offer to people with a Persona. Now being a member of S.E.E.S. and having connections to Kirijo, there were two places that became a lot more useful because of my ability to summon Hydra.

For starters, the pharmacy sold some restoratives and healing items. While I was never particularly finding use for the ones I had found originally, the store had more Beads stocked, to which I bought a few of those. They also had another kind of bead that was able to wake people from an unconscious state. Now that I was working with other people, a few of those wouldn't be all that negative to have. I picked a few of those up and continued on with my shopping.

Next up was to the police station. While the small station was only a section of the bigger Port Island Police Department, the one officer who worked here seemed to have some connections to Kirijo. It seems like being connected to that major name got you a lot of places here.

Walking in to the store, I was greeted gruffly by an elder police officer- Officer Kurosawa. Guy had a stern face, but once I told him I was with Kirijo, he lightened up a bit. While the stuff I would've liked to have was a little too expensive for my budget of what I had found in Shuffle Time and Tartarus, Beast Eye was able to help me optimize the equipment I purchased.

After some scrutiny, some calls to storage and a lot of haggling, my grand purchase was an armored pea coat, a pair of pure black combat boots, a tempered machete and a case of throwing knives. While it was far from the most exotic thing he had, I felt that grabbing both a ranged weapon and a melee one would be better to have in any circumstance. I head learned that Yukari was one to use a bow and Minato hadn't decided yet, so I felt pretty good covering the bases.

…There was just one problem to all of this- the price tag. While Tartarus had been a nice way to supplement some funds from working at Escapade, I found that all of what I had saved from both of those ventures had been drained.

If I could potentially double up on those coin cards, I can work on getting my small fortune back. I'd have to start putting a priority onto them in Shuffle Times, and I guess the same could be said for the sword cards- turns out this guy worked with trade-ins.

* * *

After the shopping trip, I returned to the dorm to find that Minato and Yukari were in the lobby. They looked up at me and nodded. I nodded back, carrying my purchases back in my messenger bag. I walked over to an empty spot and sat down, noticing that Minato was fiddling with his headphones and Yukari was reading a book.

"Is everyone ready for tonight?" I asked. Minato nodded. Yukari did too, but hers was more hesitant. At that point, Minato pulled his phone out and raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" I asked him.

"I got a message from Akihiko-senpai." Minato began. "He just asked me to get the door for him." Well, I know the guy went and had his arm broken, but I didn't think he was **that** handicapped. Getting up, I walked over to the door and opened it. I wasn't greeted by silver hair, but instead a rather large suitcase.

Odd. I then moved aside as I heard grunts of someone pushing it into the room.

"Hey, thanks for getting the door." I heard a voice greet. Akihiko came in, and some kid with a hat followed him.

…Iori, eh? What in the hell is this kid doing here…

Oh, wait. Hermes. Of the Magician Arcana. Knows Cleave and is Strong against Fire and Weak to Wind. He's got a Persona. Fucking wonderful. Where in the hell do they find these kids?

"_If I were to make any judgment on my part, I would say that they come courtesy of Gekkoukan."_

…I'm aware of that, Hydra.

"Geez, I know you gotta broken arm, Akihiko-san, but you could've at least helped me push this thing with your good arm." At this point, Yukari and Minato had both gotten off the couch they were on and walked over to us.

"Yo, Junpei-kun!" Minato greeted with a smirk. "Great to see you're moving in with us!" Yukari looked like she was about to facepalm.

"So this is where they have you, is it, Minato-kun?" Junpei greeted back, both of them wearing a large smirk. "I gotta say; this place is pretty chill." He then turned and smirked. "Oh hey, it's Yuka-tan!"

…Yuka-tan?

"_Why is he calling her the name of a country in Mexico?"_

Does it look like I know? They're all wearing the Gekkoukan uniform; maybe it has to do with their homeroom or something… Maybe it's an inside joke.

"Oh jeez… Don't tell me you've got the potential too?"

"Looks like." I answered. "But allow me to introduce myself, cause I'm probably the only face you don't recognize. The name's Adam Hiikaze, a graduate from Gekkoukan." He nodded at me and smiled.

"S'up, dude?" He asked me casually. Hmm. He seemed like a good guy, if not a little dopey. I smiled at him, welcoming the new addition to the team.

"So, Akihiko-senpai…" Yukari began. "If Junpei just awoke to his Persona, will he be joining us in the operation tonight?" Junpei look curious, but Akihiko sighed.

"Well, we weren't planning on someone else to awaken… So we don't have an Evoker for him to use." Junpei still looked incredibly curious, but he wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon.

"He can use mine." I responded. "I prefer my card to the gun anyways, and it's not going to bother me if we can have a team of four going in and it's only for a night while you guys get another one prepared for him." Akihiko nodded and Junpei still wore a dopey look of confusion.

"We're still going to have to talk to Mitsuru-san about it, but it'll definitely be a consideration for tonight's operation."

"Is anyone going to explain what's actually going on? Cause it feels like you guys are talking in some kind of code."

"Not it." I remarked, taking up a spot on a chair in the main section. I looked around as Junpei, Minato, Yukari and Akihiko did the same.

…You know what this room needs?

"_A part of me wants to ask, but another part of me doesn't. What, pray tell, could this room need?"_

This room needs a goddamn billiards table.

"…_In all fairness, out of all the things you could've said, that's moderately impressive."_

I think it'd be pretty cool if we could get something like that in this room. We have a few at Escapade, but it'd all be a matter of trying to get it in here **from **there. Those things are pretty heavy, and I don't know a lot of bulky people.

"_In time, Adam. In time."_

"Hey, Hiikaze." I heard a voice call my name. I raised my eyebrow and turned to where everyone else was talking.

"What?" I replied, in a way that definitely made it look like I wasn't paying attention.

"…We were just going to ask you some questions about Tartarus." Minato remarked, raising an eyebrow. Oh, okay. I could handle that.

"What do you want to know? I've found that it doesn't keep the same structure, but I can at least discuss a few things with you guys."

* * *

Minato, Junpei, Akihiko, Yukari and I sat in the lounge for a few hours, with me mainly leading the conversation of the structure and mechanics of Tartarus, leaving a few concepts out due to a belief that they won't need to use them.

Our conversation stopped when Mitsuru showed up and she told us all to get ready. I returned up to my room to reacquire my purchases and walked back down.

…I'll say now, it was weird seeing everyone else in his or her Gekkoukan uniforms.

"Geez, don't I look like the odd man out…" I shrugged as I placed the blade at my side. "You're all in your high-school uniforms, and I'm dressed for a blizzard."

"You paid a visit to Kurosawa-san today, didn't you?" Akihiko remarked. He then lifted up the uniform vest and shirt to reveal a Kevlar vest that was being worn underneath. Well, well. "For the amount of time I spend in my uniform, it feels weird to be out of it." I shrugged.

"I guess I'd feel the same." I remarked as I shoved my hands into the pockets of the coat.

"Before we commence tonight's operation, I would like to reestablish everyone's role in tonight." Mitsuru began, standing by the front door by the dorm. "Arisato, Takeba Iori and I will be entering Tartarus tonight, and Adam and Akihiko will be outside of Tartarus. Arisato, due to his recent combat experience, will be acting as leader." Everyone seemed surprised by her decision to not send me in, but I shrugged. Junpei seemed a little mad about the leader comment, however.

"Whatever makes everyone's vessels buoyant. I'm not going to argue why, but it'll hit the Dark Hour soon. We should head out now in order to maximize the time we have for Tartarus." Everyone nodded and walked out of the door. It was a little warm for a heavy winter's coat, but I would be fine. On the safe side, I activated Beast Eye as we walked out the door.

* * *

_**The city dressed in jewels and gold,**_

_**Fine linen, myrrh and pearls**_

_**Her plagues will come all at once **_

_**As her mourners watch her burn…**_

Aah, good old-fashioned Avenged Sevenfold… I really did like City of Evil.

_"A song depicted to the Whore of Babylon doesn't seem to fit the mood of tonight."_

Well... Who asked you?

"Hiikaze?"

Oh, crap. Mitsuru is trying to talk to me. "Yeah?"

"I want to ask you about that skill of yours that you have active most of the time… Beast Eye?" I took the earphone out of my ear and turned to her.

"What of it?" I asked, continuing to walk.

"Do you think it would be possible to have it active on more than one person?"

That's a good question. Your thoughts on the matter?

"_I can honestly say I don't have a clue. We could try it, but I don't think it would be relatively wise. It took you forever to manage the mental stamina of it, and introducing it to kids younger than you in an environment they aren't used to fighting in may cause more drawbacks than benefits. We can by all means try it, but I just don't foresee it ending well."_

I looked at Mitsuru… Hang on a second.

"That's the reason you took me out of the combat lineup, correct?" She smirked.

"You are correct. From what I've understood, your Beast Eye is more powerful than my ability to analyze at the current state. Due to the nature of Tartarus, I would feel it be better for the team to know as much as they can going in."

…She really does need to be in control of everything, doesn't she?

"_That's generally what the Empress Arcana stands for."_

"We can try it when we get to Tartarus." I told her, putting my earphone in. We still had a fair amount of a walk to still do.

* * *

_**Most would claim I live a lie (I live a lie)**_

_**Only now it's easier to predict these thin-**_

Say what you will about the Dark Hour, but I still think the worst part of it overall is all electronics going down for an hour. Right in the middle of my favourite part of that song too.

When the five of us walked into Tartarus, I looked and saw that we all looked a little more prepared for battle. Minato had pulled out a shortsword, Yukari had an arrow notched, Mitsuru elegantly held a rapier in a hand and… Junpei was holding a katana like a baseball bat.

Whatever. I'm not the ones to coach these kids on form. Hell, for a month in here, I was running around with a damn kitchen knife.

Akihiko, who was wearing a frown the entire trip, had not changed. He walked over to where I was standing and turned to the three teens who were taking it all in awe.

"You three should look around a little. Try and get a feel for the place before going in." He then turned to me. "That console over there is functioning now- your doing?"

I nodded. "The floors that can be linked up to from there seem to not change, unlike the rest of Tartarus' architecture." I then paused. "However, it's been such a long time I'm not even sure if half of them are still active."

"We won't use it yet then." Mitsuru remarked, walking into our conversation. "We'll simply explore the floor that the stairs lead up to, if only to give them an introduction to Tartarus- especially if we're forcing them under Beast Eye."

"Hey, Mitsuru-senpai, you might want to think of changing Minato as leader." Junpei and Yukari returned to where we were all standing, with Junpei pointing out that Minato was staring rather intently at that one wall over there.

"_So what if he gets spaced out? That could be a very nice wall." _It very well could be, and just because Minato wants to stare at a wall doesn't mean he's incapable of leading a teenage death squad into a twisted tower.

It was at this point Minato had returned to us, and I sighed. "Everyone's back now, good. Before you four go in, I want to try something."

Okay, here's the plan…

"_You've got nothing, do you?"_

Effectively.

"_Be thankful I've been thinking of one for the past little bit. What I was thinking was that if we could focus a fresh activation of Beast Eye onto the area where they're all standing underneath, and with your activation, be able to see through their eyes and…"_

While this sounds like a lovely plan, I can barely watch my own screen in a split-screen video game. Trying to watch the dynamic eyesight of four different people seems like a bit of an arduous task. Especially since my brain likes to play tricks in my own vision.

"_I suppose you have a better idea?"_

Something similar to that, but only on Minato. If I could concentrate an activation of Beast Eye onto him, he could probably see something similar to what I see.

"…_Well, I suppose yours is probably better. But you'd better not fuck this up."_

In all honesty, I'm expecting to fuck something up, on the grounds that we haven't even tried Beast Eye on anything but myself.

"Okay, Minato." I began. "I'm going to try and transfer an activation of Beast Eye onto you, in hopes that I'll become able to see what you can see. Good?" Minato gave a stoic nod and I sighed, deactivating Beast Eye.

Okay… concentrate.

3…

2…

1…

**GO! Beast Eye, activate!**

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I saw very weird things. It was as if my eyes had split and were acting on their own instead of in unison. In my right, I was able to see what my normal field of vision was, albeit condensed into one eye. In my left, I was able to see what Minato was seeing, which was me, on the floor, in pain.

"Someone cover my right eye!" I screamed. I don't know how, but the butt end of an Evoker ended up in my right eye, knocking out my normal vision.

"I appreciate the sentiment…" I remarked. "But you didn't have to be an ass about it."

"So how does it feel?" Mitsuru asked me. "Are you okay now?" I nodded.

"What happened was that my right eye was trying to compress my normal field of vision into one eye, but my left eye was instead seeing through both of Minato's eyes. I can't see anything on the right side anymore, but I can see through Minato's eyes perfectly now. "For the record, Mitsuru, I don't recommend we do this, ever again." I stood up and braced myself up against a wall.

"_Oi, Minato."_

**Eh?**

The hell are you doing?

"_Since the two of you technically have Beast Eye active, I wanted to try and see if you two could have a private way of communicating."_

**Why would we need a private way to communicate?**

"_For one, we left some things out when we talked this evening that we think may resurface now that someone else has Beast Eye up."_

**Fair enough. You okay mate? I'm sorry about the whole Evoker in the eye thing.**

In all fairness, I'm just glad you used the blunt end and not the barrel end. I'll be fine, but you four should make for Tartarus. We're burning moonlight now.

* * *

After seeing that Akihiko and I were up in a safe spot in lieu of a rogue shadow and Junpei had an evoker to use for tonight, the four of them walked into the tower, up the cursed stairs. All four of their hands glowed that familiar shade of blue, which caused the clock to open.

Alright mate, I'll try my best to be as succinct as possible. I can already tell you that there aren't as many shadows on the prowl as there are normally, so I feel that I can get a lot more explaining done that way.

**You seem to have a good handle on this, don't you?**

It's weird what experience will do to you. Your only way right now is north, so I'd head up that way.

**So what's the deal with that random blob there?**

Shadows that aren't in combat will stay like that. If you can get an attack on them with your sword, you'll expose the true form of it. Generally speaking, the bigger that blob is now, the harder the fight will be.

**Simple enough. What can you tell me about these?**

This one, eh? …It's a pretty basic one. It's a Cowardly Maya- you can tell cause of the mask it wears. An Agi from Orpheus can take it down.

**Roger.**

After seeing the blob burst into flames, the group continued north and then east, defeating another group of Mayas.

**Alright, so what's up with the briefcase?**

Some of them contain yen, some of them contain healing items, and some of them contain weird stuff. You won't know until you open it, and Beast Eye won't let me get a good idea on just what it could be.

**Turns out this one was money…**

Finder's keepers, eh? Regardless, there's another group of Mayas up east- you know the drill.

After Minato put the fire to the Mayas, my original theory of some things of Tartarus being exclusive to those who had Beast Eye seemed to be correct. For Minato had encountered his first Shuffle Time.

**I'm going to be completely honest, I don't know what the fuck if going on here.**

Hydra?

"_We don't know what causes it, but the cards you see in front of you right now will cause you some benefits. The sword card there will give you a weapon, the coin card will give you money, the cup card will generate a chalice that will restore some of your vitality when you drink from it and the wand card allows you to gain experience at a quicker pace."_

**And what's the deal then with the one depicting a Pixie on it?**

"…_You mean the card that depicts the Lovers? I don't know what that does."_

**Call me crazy, but I might. In any case, don't worry about it. Beast Eye should be able to explain it to you soon.**

Sure enough, after Minato picked the card that depicted the Lovers Arcana, Minato had acquired a new Persona- Pixie, coincidentally enough belonging to the Lovers Arcana. We believed that Minato was able to see that the Arcana cards were actually new Personae due to his ability of the Wild Card.

However, after that moment, I sensed a great deal of foreboding danger. Minato, tell everyone to get out of there now.

**Why?**

…I sense Death. It was at this point the sound of rattling chains had become quite audible, in addition to a demonic, harsh voice.

"_**I am the Tower." **_It spoke._** "And I brook no intrusion. Make peace with your inner self."**_

At this point, even Mitsuru, who had been completely calm and controlled the entire trip, had lost it. Thankfully, the entire team, sans Minato, was near the access point out, which they thankfully took.

Minato, on the other hand, was trying to run as fast as he goddamn could.

"_**Hold, puppet." **_The Reaper spoke, again. "_**You act like you wear the Eye of the Beast, but you are just a puppet for the one who does. The one who truly wears the Eye… he is not in this tower, correct.**_

Minato nodded.

"_**Very well. For this one time, I will give you both pause. Leave, and never return, lest you value your life."**_

Nobody had to tell him twice. Minato was gone and on that access point, and I had Beast Eye ended as quickly as possible.

"Holy. Fuck." I began. "Anyone have any clue as to what the hell that thing was?" I responded. Yukari was in tears, Mitsuru was shaking and Junpei looked like he might have peed himself a little. I wouldn't blame any one of them.

"Come on, guys." Akihiko remarked. "The Dark Hour's about to end. We need to get back to the dorm." Nodding, I gently helped everyone up and followed as Akihiko led us back to the dorm.

…My one concern, however, is how it knew I had Beast Eye and how it also knew that Minato was only using it.

"_I honestly don't think now's the time to ask those questions…"_

You're right, Hydra…

* * *

**A/N: Holy. Fuck. That took forever. But, you can blame one of my friends for telling me that it needed to get finished (and it did, I'm not going to argue him).**

**Tartarus may have gone a little bit unexpected, as nobody really thinks to encounter the goddamn Reaper on their first excursion in, that's for sure.**

**Only time will tell The Reaper's true connection to the P3 Crew, but his (her?) involvement in L,D,R is far from over. In fact, you could probably say it's only just begun.**

**Next chapter, aftermath of Tartarus.**


	6. Here Comes the New Challenger!

We waited around in Tartarus for a little bit until the Dark Hour was almost over. When it was very close to ending, we started off for the dorm again. Everyone was still in shellshock from the appearance of a giant Shadow who was toting a pair of wicked revolvers with obscenely large barrels who, somehow, managed to know that I had Beast Eye.

Nobody had a lot to say, but everyone was on edge. Despite that the Dark Hour was over, nobody was willing to say a word. Minato and I both had music in an ear, tuning out the nothingness around us.

Hydra… I'm at a loss. I am quite bamboozled about the whole thing.

_"We've never seen that before, have we?"_

Not in the slightest, no. The fact that that's there, in Tartarus now, and it knows I have Beast Eye… I don't even know.

_"I wouldn't worry about it until our next visit. Until then, you might want to do something about that black eye of yours."_

Eh…? Oh, right. That whole…Evoker to the eye thing. Something tells me I should've thought that one a little more through.

"Do we have an ice pack at the dorm?" I asked aloud, being the only one who seemed to have spoken on the way back. Mitsuru and Akihiko both looked at me confused, causing me to point at the swelling of my right eye that made it a pain to blink.

"You have permission to go out to Aohige and get one." Mitsuru told me. Sighing to myself, I shoved my hands in the pocket of my coat and diverted from the group, putting the other earphone into my ear.

_**Can't you feel, the poison rising**_

**_Out of the morning, and clear through the night?_**

**_You can feel, my strength destroy you,_**

**_Straight to the heart, from the venomous bite!_**

Aaah, thank god for City of Evil. That's an album I'll always appreciate.

* * *

Aohige was quiet when I got there. Aside from the guy at the counter with majestic blue hair, there was a girl in a Gekkoukan uniform who looked to be a junior. Maybe it's cause Paulownia is in such a proximity to the school, but I've started to notice a lot of Gekkoukan kids nowadays.

_"Such a thing may be caused by the fact that you're living in a dorm that only has Gekkoukan kids?"_

Shut up, Hydra. In any case, I didn't get a good look at her. She was busy looking at some stuff on a shelf. From what I could see though, was the she had dark brown hair in a ponytail, the Roman numeral for twenty-two as a hair decal and a pair of red, clip-on headphones.

_"She's also of the Strength Arcana, and her Persona is Diana."_

Excuse me…? Oh fuck this. What is this about all of the damn Persona users coming from that school?

_"Need I remind you that the school turns into the dungeon where Shadows are fought at a special section of midnight?"_

Fuck you, Hydra. Your impeccable logic has no place here. After searching for a little bit, I was able to find a suitable ice pack for my eye that wouldn't require some time spent in the freezer when I got back to the dorm. I purchased the ice pack and walked out.

* * *

I took the last train from the mall to the Iwatodai station, and on that ride I met up with the brown-haired girl from earlier.

Hydra, what can you tell me about Diana?

_"Diana's strength is stronger compared that of Orpheus, Io and Hermes, but she is not as powerful as Polydeuces or Penthesilea. She is of the Strength Arcana, and knows Bash, Cleave, Holy Arrow and Tarukaja. Diana is strong against all physical attacks but is weak to darkness."_

…An interesting mélange of abilities, wouldn't you say?

_"Quite."_

I gave a glance to her direction, and her eyes met with mine. Good lord, she had beautiful eyes. She turned away to look out the window as she pulled out a bottle of medicine from the plastic bag at her side. She opened it and began to drink from it hesitantly.

"Rough night?" I asked her. She looked up from staring in the bottle and looked at me. She looked uncertain and a little fearful, but she still smiled at me.

"I guess you could call it that." She then looked at me and gasped at my black eye. "It looks like you had a rough night too! Are you okay?" I laughed at her concern as I took the ice pack to my eye in my hand and smiled at her.

"It's nothing that I won't be able to handle." She looked a little relieved, but she still had that look of concern on her face. "I'm Adam Hiikaze. And you are?"

"Natalie." She paused to gulp down more medicine. "Natalie Kuzunoha."

…Interesting. She's related to Raidou?

"No relation to Raidou." She told me. Judging by the way she said it, she sounded like she was used to that correlation being drawn.

"In all fairness, it'd be weird if you were." I told her. "Out of all of the places to find a Kuzunoha, this wouldn't be anywhere near the ones I'd think." She smiled at me- an infectious, bright little grin that got me smiling as well.

"So what's your story?" She asked me. I looked at her curious, and then she made a circle with her finger around her right eye.

"Ah…" I frowned. "It's no big deal. Just kinda ran into a pole." I mused, deadpan "Pretty fast. Eye first." She smiled at me, but she nodded and still looked concerned.

"Was it just recent?" She asked.

"Not even an hour ago." There was a slight pause in the conversation, which allowed me to check my phone. I got messages from the rest of SEES, meaning that Minato or Mitsuru must've passed my number around to everyone else.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I pocketed my phone again and looked at her.

"Something on your mind?"

"This may sound weird… but, did the past hour seem weird to you?" There we go. She knows now that I know about the Dark Hour.

"…I might know what you mean. You mean how everything kind of got colder for a minute and there was just a general air of uneasiness and a green tint to it all?" Natalie nodded at me, and I smiled. "Can you show me your card?"

She gave me a look of confusion, but realized what I meant shortly after. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a blue card that depicted a black, woman-like figure commanding a black lion, and on the bottom of the drawing was the Roman numeral for eleven- the Strength Arcana.

"This is what you mean, right? The card I use to summon her?" I nodded. I then pulled out the receipt from Aohige and wrote my phone number on the back of it.

"I want you to take this. The next time you have a question or want to talk about what you may have seen or experienced tonight, call this number. I belong to an organization of people who specialize in the current situation you're in." I then looked to see that the train had made the stop for Iwatodai, which was my cue to get off and begin my walk back to the dorm. I waved at her and smiled, which led to her hesitantly waving back.

* * *

Off the train, I sighed as I began my walk home to the dorm. It was a pretty quick one, but it took some time nonetheless.

When I got back, everyone save Mitsuru wasn't in the lounge.

"Welcome back." She greeted me. "I trust you were able to get what you needed?" I nodded.

"Natalie Kuzunoha has a Persona." I remarked, immediately changing the subject. One of her elegant eyebrows rose in surprise.

"How did you figure that out?" I shrugged.

"Hydra detected it when I was getting on the train. She's only just recently experienced the Dark Hour, and I gave her my number in case of anything comes up, but you might need to make arrangements like you did with everyone else."

"I see. Thank you for finding this out." I yawned. Turns out that even with the constant application of pressure of the ice, I was still pretty tired. But since it was approaching 1, I figured it was probably normal. Which reminded me… "What are you still doing up?" She shrugged.

"I could be asking you the same thing. Aohige isn't that far away from here, and you certainly took your leisurely time coming here."

…Well played, Kirijo. Well played. I laughed aloud and smiled at her.

"You got me there, Mitsuru-san." I mused.

"Since we're on the subject of time, I would like to inform you that you may freely go out at night after tonight, but I must ask that you keep it at a minimum if plans to go to Tartarus are announced. Also, you won't be on analysis duty for Tartarus until further notice- I'll return to analysis and you can be deployed whenever you wish. Is that okay?"

"Wonderful, actually." Means I don't have to try more applications of Beast Eye on more than one person again. Thank god for that. I said goodnight to Mitsuru, took the ice pack off, and fell asleep in my room, in jacket and all.

* * *

When I woke up, it was around 9 in the morning, and the dorm was unnaturally silent.

_"You forget that today is a school day, and this is a dorm full of high-school students with better attendance than you. Therefore, it would be pretty obvious that they'd be at school._"

So be it, Hydra… I guess it'll take some time getting used to.

_"So, what's on the agenda for today?"_

I don't really know. I could go to Chagall, grab something there and some coffee.

"_You don't have to go out for breakfast anymore. You __**are**__ living in a dorm, and this dorm __**does**__ have a kitchen."_

…There's a kitchen here?

_"If I could facepalm, I would. It's behind the bar."_

Huh. Well, that's interesting… As is the fact that I fell asleep in my coat and jeans. Deciding that I've slept in worse, I walked downstairs and, sure enough, I found the kitchen behind the bar.

After checking in some of the cupboards and the fridge, I eventually found a small loaf of bread that still looked good.

…Cooking shouldn't be hard, right? I mean, I just put the bread here in the toaster thingy and then I pull this lever here and it cooks itself, right?

_"It's actually just as simple as you made it out to be."_

Well, that's good. No way I could fuck this one up!

* * *

**_Suffer long, and it will set you free_**

**_Only through trial do we find the strength we need._**

**_It's never over; just another day,_**

**_Of hope and tragedy, and everything that comes our way…_**

**_"_**_…Hiikaze?"_

What?

"Are you mad?"

I'm not mad, Hydra. I just figured I should've trusted my better instinct and gone to Chagall first thing instead. They do their bagels pretty good there, actually.

_"I'm… I'm just at a loss for words right now."_

Shut up. I knew I should've just gone to Paulownia at the start.

_"…I didn't know it was possible to burn toast like that."_

What part of shut up do you not understand?

_"I mean… It's so basic and…"_

**SHUT UP.**

* * *

After some…less than edible success in making food at the dorm, I decided to roll with my original plan of going to Chagall and grabbing some coffee and a bagel to effectively start my day.

I gathered my food and sat down in one of the tables towards the corner. I wasn't really in the mood to socialize- I was still feeling pissed about the whole incident with the toaster. I wore my headphones and kept to myself, eating alone and simply taking in the atmosphere.

Chagall was…always an interesting place. It was a maid café, so that meant all of the waitresses were in maid costumes and the waiters were dressed as butlers.

…Do people actually find that sexually appealing?

_"You're asking the wrong being."_

Never mind, I didn't expect you to really have an answer to that anyways. Forget I asked it. Anyways, I continued to eat quietly and sip on my coffee. Hmm… this stuff was rather good, albeit a little strong.

Then again… I was never a particular fan of coffee. I just drank it cause it came with the bagel, and it was easier to simply get acquired to it rather than try and fight it.

I looked around. Chagall was pretty quiet and dead, but I figured that's because the main crowd that frequented here were either at work or at school, and most of those people would've just gotten stuff to go instead of sitting down and eating.

That being said, there was another girl there. She had long, black hair that went to her shoulders and she was dressed in a black, long-sleeved shirt with a black, knee-length skirt. She smiled at me when our eyes met and then returned to her coffee.

_"You going over there?"_

…Maybe. At least just to say hi or something. She looks like she'd be a Gekkoukan student, but she's not wearing the uni-

**Bzzzzzt. Bzzzzzt. Bzzzzzt.**

…Well, that sucks. So much for that plan. Pulling out my phone to see that someone was calling me, I flipped it up and put it to my ear.

"Hiikaze."

-_"Hey, Hiikaze? It's Natalie, from last night."-_

"Don't you have school today?"

_-"Yeah, but I'm still trying to take it all in. Can we talk about it today? I could meet you at Chagall in a few minutes."_- That's rather convenient, for both of us actually.

_"You don't seem to be concerned about her skipping school."_

Why would I be? I'm not the girl's mother. Besides, school is a hellhole anyways.

"Yeah, meet me there then. We can talk about whatever may be on your mind in regards to that." I heard the sound of approval, and then I closed my phone. I pulled out my music from my ears, and looked to see that the girl from before was gone.

Well… I gotta explain all of this to another clueless teenager. Someone save me.

_"You should open with how you tried to cook toast this morning."_

Fuck you.

* * *

**A/N: And people said that I forgot about this story. Or maybe they didn't, and I could be going crazy… Hmm-hmm. Thus marks the introduction of the FeMC (or female protagonist) as it were into Life, Death and Rebirth. What role will she play? And what of the girl in black? Who knows?**

**Anyways, I promise the delay between Chapters 6 and 7 won't be like the one from 5 to 6. Jesus, you don't know how well it feels to have this thing done.**

**Next chapter, something completely different! Social Links!**

**_In-game date: 4/21/09._**


	7. Resetting the Stage

When morning rolled around, I woke up to a throbbing head. Hiikaze was probably feeling worse than I was, cause he must've gotten back after I went to bed. I had fallen straight asleep when we got back from Tartarus, and the headache that I had from last night had seemed to persist throughout the night and into the morning.

I rubbed my temples as I changed into my uniform and put on my headphones. All I wanted to do was not go to school and stay home and rest off this killer headache. Damn Hiikaze not having to go to school…

Breakfast today I decided was simple and would consist of simple toast. I was up earlier than Junpei, but later than Yukari, Akihiko and Mitsuru. I took the slice to go and ate it on my way to the train. I put my headphones on and

…Could you imagine if someone couldn't cook toast? That'd be hilarious. Regardless, I wasn't too excited for today- it would seem like a good excuse to fall asleep in class today… I've never felt so tired before in my life. However, in situations like these, I found that music would help me keep awake. That, and sugar.

* * *

_**If you wanna battle, then I'll take it to the street,**_

_**Where there's no rules,**_

_**Take off the gloves, ref please step down.**_

_**Gotta prove my skillz, so get down.**_

_**My lyrical dempsey roll about to smack down now.**_

Say what you will about rap like that, but I'm a fan of it every now and then. It's a guilty pleasure, and an alternative to all of the metal I have on my music player.

_"I'd agree with you there- there's something to be said for how all of the instruments work together in that piece."_

…Orpheus?

"_Yes. Are you concerned?"_

…Gonna be completely honest with you, a little bit.

_"The boy who you call 'Hiikaze' mentioned it the first night you two met."_ Did he? I don't really remember that conversation; it's been a while, and the Dark Hour has kinda been messing with my memory of stuff since I got here. But, regardless, I'll trust what you say, Orpheus.

_"I cannot lie, Minato. After all, I am just a part of you."_

…So be it, Orpheus.

* * *

After getting off of the train and walking to the front gates of the school, I noticed that another student was trying to get my attention. This guy had short brown hair, brown eyes and was dressed in the standard Gekkoukan Uniform. He was also of the Magician Arcana, like Junpei.

"Hey, you're Minato, right?" He called at me. Unclipping my left earphone and putting it around my collar, I walked over to him.

"Indeed I am." I replied, feigning a smile. I don't know why, but this guy weirds me out.

"Man, I knew it. I heard from my friend Junpei that you're pretty close with Yukari-san. What's up with that, man?" I narrowed my eyes at him. So, not only was this guy friends with Junpei, but he also bought into the rumors that her and I were close just because the two of us showed up together on the first day?

…Man, I can't catch a break.

_"I would not be so hesitant to dissuade this boy."_

…Damnit Orpheus, you're right. I don't have any right to be an ass to this kid, I just met him.

"There's not really much to it." I shrugged apathetically. "We just live in the same dorm. She's not really my type anyways." The other boy laughed.

"I guess it doesn't really matter to me. I'm looking for someone with a little more experience anyways."

…Now can I not like this kid, Orpheus?

_"No."_

Ah, hell. Whatever.

"But I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Kenji Tomochika, and I'm in the same homeroom as you. I tend to sit near the back, so that Toriumi-sensei doesn't catch me sleeping in her class." …Didn't that already happen to him? "Regardless, there's a morning assembly, so we better hurry. I don't wanna get chewed out again for being late."

With that being possibly the most sensible thing I've heard him say, he and I walked to class together.

* * *

Unlike the last assembly, which made me want to die from boredom, this one wasn't too bad. But then again, the principal was nowhere near this one, and as it turned out, Mitsuru was actually the one who was speaking.

"…That concludes the main portion of today's assembly. Next, we'll hear a few words from the new president of Student Council, Mitsuru Kirijo from Class 3-D."

Mitsuru began to approach the microphone when I heard Yukari speak up from behind Junpei and me.

"So, she did get elected after all." Yukari mused, not very surprised. "To be fair though, she **is** the most popular girl in school."

"You can say that again…" Junpei chuckled a little bit, but sighed. "There's just this…aura to her. And even in the dorm, she's like that. Isn't this school owned by the Kirijo Group anyways?" Yukari tensed up as Junpei remarked. Did she not like Kirijo for some reason? Granted, they've been target of some…illicit scandals before, but so has every company that grows to their size. Then again… having the heiress of the company that owns the school win Class President could be seen as suspicious by some…

Ah well. I wasn't really bothered by it. I couldn't even imagine myself working in an environment like Student Council. I don't do well in organized, orderly affairs like that.

"I try not to remember that." Yukari mused, a bit bitter. I sighed. Mitsuru then brought our attention back to her by tapping on the microphone with one of her fingers and then beginning her speech.

"As I begin my term as Student Council president, I'd like to share my vision for the upcoming year with all of you. I firmly believe that each of us must accept the responsibility of bettering our school."

Yawn. This seems like a bunch of political bullshit.

"However, change cannot occur or be maintained without sustained effort and commitment. To attain this goal, we must restructure our daily lives. I would like each of you to dig deep into your well of motivation and re-evaluate your convictions in order to bring about a bold new future without losing sight of the realities that surround us. This, is key."

As I suspected. Blah, blah, blah, political bullshit. Mitsuru would make an excellent politician once all of this is said and done.

"I am certain that each of you have your own personal visions of the future, but for us to reap the full benefits of your education, your participation, ideas and enthusiasm are…"

**Every man's gotta fight the fear,**

**I'm the first to admit it sheer thoughts**

**Provoke the new era become a big terror**

**But my only rival is my shadow**

**Rewind then playback to fix my own error.**

_"While I don't exactly approve of your decision, I'll allow it."_

Ah, can it Orpheus. Someone once said that a politician is a person who can talk for hours without ever saying anything. While it's not to that extent, it sure feels like it.

"…Minato-kun, you have any ideas as to what she just said?" Junpei asked me, tapping me on the shoulder. I shook my head.

"I understood some of it, but she lost me halfway through. It all sounded like political mumbo-jumbo to me."

"Yeah, man. Sure didn't sound like something a normal high schooler would say. If it were anyone else, we'd be laughing our asses off."

…True that, Junpei. True that.

* * *

Toriumi was talking about another poem in class after the assembly, and she was able to catch Kenji sleeping in the back. I guess it didn't happen before, but it wouldn't surprise me if it happened again. So much for not getting caught.

…Which made my decision to not sleep through it all the wiser. Kid got another assignment for homework, and he had to get her a slice of cake. Hell, this woman does not take prisoners.

* * *

"Minato-kun, you ever notice the way that Akihiko-san is popular with the ladies?" I had to turn to look in the direction that Junpei was pointing in, but I saw that Akihiko was surrounded by four squealing, high-pitched fangirls outside of Gekkoukan in the front courtyard. "I didn't use to talk to him much, but now I got a good excuse."

"Careful with that, Junpei." I remarked, casually blowing my hair out of my face. Fangirls are crazy, y'know."

"Yeah… but still, check it out! You don't even see girls flock like that on TV! Guess being the captain of the boxing team automatically makes you a chick magnet." I sighed and shook my head disdainfully. Junpei really did have a one-track mind, but when your marks aren't good like his and you're not in any after-school clubs or activities like he is, there really is no other outlet for him.

Akihiko was only able to take a few steps at a time before his fangirl legion bogged him down again. In fact, I almost saw a glint of relief in his eyes when he saw us.

"Hey, you guys free this afternoon?" He asked us. I shrugged, but Junpei had once again lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree.

"You bet your ass we are! What'd you have in mind?" I sighed and facepalmed. Good lord, Junpei.

"I want the two of you to meet me at Paulownia in a little bit. You two know where it is, right? I'll be at the police station." Junpei looked a little confused and downtrodden.

"So… we're not hanging out with those friends of yours?" Akihiko gave a small chuckle.

"These girls? I don't even known their names." Ah, yes. He rejected his fangirls like a true teenage heartthrob would. I'm proud of him. "I'm heading out now- don't keep me waiting."

The girls chased after him (again, like true teenage fangirls would), and Junpei just complained.

"How could he not know their names?" He bemoaned.

"One of the first lessons you need to know in life is that not everything is about women. You'd do well to remember it." I told him, which he instantaneously dismissed. "Let's just get to Paulownia, I don't want to keep senpai waiting."

* * *

After a moderately long walk, we made it to Paulownia. After getting inside, Junpei and I made our way to the police station, where we found Akihiko and one police officer standing behind a counter.

"These are the two I was talking about earlier." He turned to face us, while the officer just stood still and quiet. This guy was of the Justice Arcana, which seemed to be pretty damn stereotypical. "This here is Officer Kurosawa. He keeps our squad well-equipped." Akihiko then pulled out two five thousand yen bills and gave us each one. "The money's a gift from Itkutsuki-san. You can't fight empty-handed, so find something you like. Kurosawa has connections, but these things cost money."

"Of course they do." Kurosawa spoke up in a gravely, yet firm voice. "Nothing in life is free."

"I just finished my purchases, so I'm going to be heading out. See you two later." With that, Akihiko nodded to both of us and walked out.

"I've been informed about you two. My job is to keep the peace of this city, regardless of the circumstances. I'm just an ordinary police officer, but I've seen that there's more to this than meets the eye. I'm just doing what I think is right. And in order to prevent suspicion, whatever you order will be delivered to your dorm by evening."

_"I should note that this man, while Dark Hour sensitive, cannot maintain a Persona."_

…Come again, Orpheus? That doesn't make sense.

_"I know it does not. However, you should look into it if it truly is of a concern to you."_

…Well, I guess that's something else to ask Mitsuru when I get back to the dorm. Regardless of that, Junpei and I began to look around at what he had. Kurosawa also worked on a trade-in system, where he would buy whatever we had and would knock that off the cost of whatever our bill was.

Apparently, Hiikaze was also in here a few days ago, and he took advantage of that very well, as it would seem.

His selection wasn't limited, but I was limited by a grand factor of price. With only 8,000 yen at my disposal, I was severely limited. However, I was still able to walk away with a new sword and a new, armored shirt to wear underneath my uniform. All of this would happen later tonight, but I was still required to pay in advance, leaving me with less than two thousand at my disposal.

Junpei didn't buy anything. In fact, he seemed to be like he was in a downer mood. After we got out of the police station, he took off and sulked.

After that, I looked around to see that Hiikaze and a brown-haired girl were leaving Chagall. I waved at him, and the two of them walked over to where I was.

"Hey Minato." Adam greeted casually. "Fancy meeting you here. You just bought some stuff?"

"Yeah. What about you? You two on a date?" I joked. Hiikaze smirked, but the girl blushed.

"Nah, we just got bored. But, I should probably introduce her. This here is Natalie Kuzunoha- a Persona user and, as of tonight, new member of SEES."

Sure enough, Hiikaze wasn't lying. She did indeed have a Persona- Diana of the Strength Arcana. She bowed to me, and I nodded.

"Pleased to meet you." She spoke.

"Likewise." I replied. "So, if you're moving in then, does that mean there's no Tartarus tonight?" Hiikaze raised an eyebrow.

"You want to go? I'll go with you no problem, man. Granted, Mitsuru and the others probably will say no due to them moving in Nat, but it's worth a try." He smiled at me. "In any case, the two of us are off to get her settled in. Meet you back at the dorm." We nodded and parted ways, and it was only until they turned and left did I see his arm wrap around her waist.

…Damn, Hiikaze had a girlfriend? Well, it's not my business to go and prod at the relationships of others. Instead, what it is my business to do is to go to Screen Shot at the Port Island station and attend the movie marathon that was going on there. They were marathoning some movies today, and I definitely wanted to go and see them.

* * *

After the marathon, I got back to the dorm to see that Akihiko, Mitsuru and Itkutsuki were in the lounge.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru greeted. "It's actually pretty good that I managed to catch you here now. I wanted to tell you that I'd like for you to remain as leader for any upcoming Tartarus trips. Also, because I'm sure that there are other issues that you need to take care of, you can now freely go out at night. I do wish however that you are back before midnight, as I want all dorm members to be back for when the Dark Hour hits." I nodded to her. In all fairness, those are some pretty acceptable terms."

"Speaking of Tartarus, who's up for it again tonight?" Everyone but Itkutsuki looked concerned, as it would appear that people are still on edge from that giant thing with dual revolvers that appeared last night.

"…Kuzunoha won't be able to go, but Hiikaze, Iori and Takeba should be fine to go. Everyone's upstairs, so go talk to them and see." I nodded and went upstairs. "In case you don't know, Kuzunoha is a new girl who was just discovered to have the power of Persona last night. She was moved in today, and Hiikaze and her seemed to be rather close.

"They're dating." I remarked. "Or, at least I think they are. She seemed to be rather friendly with him." Ah well, again, not my business to be judging.

"In any case, tell me what they say, and if they're good for it, let me know." Mitsuru wore a slight smirk and chuckled at the assumption they were dating. How weird and unlike her.

* * *

On the second floor, I climbed up the stairs to see Junpei slouched on a couch, Yukari painting her nails and Hiikaze and Natalie sharing a spot, with Hiikaze reading a book.

"So, you're saying that you aren't related to Raidou then?" Junpei said with a frown.

"Who's Raidou?" I asked, confused about the current context of this conversation.

"Raidou Kuzunoha." Hiikaze replied, not looking up from his book. "He's a famous Japanese detective that comes from a rich family line who also got a few, big-budget action movies made about him that he starred in. Word is that he's our age too. Last I heard, he was working jointly with the Shiroganes on some murder case out in Tokyo."

"Oh, hey Minato!" Yukari greeted. "We're just talking with Natalie here. She's a Persona user too." I nodded.

"I ran into her and Hiikaze this afternoon after school." I remarked. "But I'm here to ask one question. Who's up for Tartarus?"

I got a few reactions. Hiikaze smiled at me, Yukari looked away uneasily, Junpei gave an apathetic shrug and Natalie just looked confused. Hiikaze whispered something to her, and her confused expression turned into one that mimicked his.

"We have the team for it, it's just a matter of getting Nat a way of summoning Diana." Hiikaze mused, before pulling out his Evoker from his coat pocket. "This should do nice, yeah?"

"Then it's settled." I told everyone. "Tonight is Round 2 of Tartarus."

…Strange. Why do I feel like something terrible is going to happen?

* * *

**A/N: In what will be known for me as the quickest update schedule ever, LDR reached Chapter 7! A lot happened, but let's start from the basics.**

**First off, LDR will be structured with an alternating POV that changes between Hiikaze and Minato every chapter (with a few special occasions thrown in).**

**Second of all, there's a new pairing! Or is there? Who knows, really?**

**Third of all, next chapter will be Hiikaze's POV again, and this time, it's more Tartarus!**

**In-game date: 4/21/09**

** Process (Will be posted at the end of every second Minato chapter):**

**Fool- Rank 2.**

**Tower- Rank 1.**

**Don't forget to favourite/follow/review if you liked it!**


	8. A Night of Raining Arrows

After killing some time in the dorm, we all met outside of the dorm and began the walk to Tartarus. Natalie was left back at the dorm to move in on her own, but I promised her that I'd take her on a future expedition.

…Although by the way everyone else was feeling, a future expedition wouldn't be for some time. Everyone except Minato wore an expression of fear, whereas the bluenette had a look of boredom and apathy, seeming to be more interested in the music he was listening to. Unsurprising, considering that he always had that expression on his face.

I however, was fixated on my iPod for the very moment. Partially to shift through the extensive library I had, and also partially to make it seem like I was doing something else.

…Even though it did give me a clear reflection of my wound from a few nights ago.

_"To be quite honest, Nat did do a good job of fixing you up. The cover-up she applied makes it look like you never took the hilt of a gun to the face."_

…I'll guess and say that you just gave a compliment. Nevertheless, I felt the air go cold and my iPod go dead, which meant it went back into my pocket, along with my earphones. I looked around to see that Minato was doing the same- his headphones going around his neck in the typical fashion he wore them. He looked at me and smiled.

"You look good." He told me. "You don't look like an assault victim anymore." I rolled my eyes at him and strolled into Tartarus with everyone else.

_"I'm not sure why you're offended- he's right, you know."_

Am I going to have to start rolling my eyes at you now, too?

_"Seeing as how I lack a physical presence… Be my guest."_

* * *

"Due to the results from our last visit being…unexpected." I noticed Mitsuru's pause as she tried to find the right words for the situation. "I'll be taking control of analysis from here on out. Hiikaze will join you, Takeba and Iori in the exploration of Tartarus." Akihiko looked like he was about to say something, but a death glare from the icy redhead silenced him. Say what you want, but he's a fighter to the end.

"_Tch. How reckless of him."_ …In all honesty, that is a fair statement, but he's has a point- he's tied for the most experience with this situation with Kirijo. He's bound to think that way. From the corner of my eye, I saw Minato kick the terminal off to the other side of the lobby, and it sprung to life with a weak green glow.

"Hey Hiikaze…" Minato began. "What's that thing do?" I shrugged.

"It's a teleporter, but I think this is one that may work both ways." Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at my comment. To test it, I walked over and stood on top of it. As I did, a small screen appeared, and I looked it over. It showed what looked like the base of the tower, and there were four available destinations- the lobby, the 5th floor, the 10th floor and the 14th floor. Pressing the one for the 5th floor, I closed my eyes as I was enveloped in a green glow.

When I emerged, I looked around to see that I was inside Tartarus. There was a hallway leading to the right to a set of stairs and to the north was a hallway leading to a big room.

"**It seems your theory towards it working both ways are correct. Everyone else is coming up now."** I smirked to myself and turned to watch everyone. Turns out that they only accepted one person at a time, as I saw Minato appear at first, then Yukari, then Junpei.

"Everyone's here." I began, cracking my hands. "Minato, there's stairs for the next floor over there." I then gestured into the general direction of the staircase. "The shadows there get more difficult, so we'll be in a better position to get some-" I paused as I heard the sound of a loud caw break the air.

…Oh hell. If it's honestly what I think it is, I'm going to hate this.

"**Everyone up there, be very careful."** I heard Mitsuru speaking to us through Penthesilea's power. "**I'm sensing a dangerous group of Shadows up there."** I sighed as everyone's expression changed. Yukari looked more scared, Junpei looked excited and Minato looked annoyed.

"_It's definitely the Eagles from the last time." _Well, that just confirms it.

"Alright, who's ready for a fight?" I laughed as I saw everyone but Yukari raise their hands. I smiled a wicked grin.

"_Don't tell me you're going to throw three inexperienced teenagers at the Eagles as bait." _Well, it's not entirely bait. One of our Myriad Arrows will knock them from the sky, but this would be a good time for them to get some experience. Another caw broke through as the rest of the team was getting nervous- with Junpei's bravado was slowly starting to fade and Yukari looking around us anxiously.

"I don't suppose you have a plan for this?" Minato asked. I smiled as I took the machete from my side and raised it up, holding it in my right hand and Evoker in my left.

"Junpei, you and me are rushing in. Yukari, stay back and fire arrows at these things. From what I remember, they're weak to arrows and other piercing attacks. Worst-case scenario, I summon Hydra and she wipes the floor with them.

"**You've fought these creatures before, Hiikaze-san?"**

"**These things were here the very first time I reached this far into Thebel on my own. It seems that they're making a resurgence for tonight."** With the sound of a third caw fresh in the air, I raised my blade and pointed it in the direction.

"Let's go!" I activated Beast Eye and, lo and behold, the Eagles stirred and began their charge. The three of us had walked out from the hallway we were in and were met with the giant birds. Each of them had midnight-black plumage and they all wore golden masks over their face- to top it off, a pink, fabric collar sat around each bird's neck- they looked no different from the last time I fought them.

"_They're also no stronger. Yukari could probably snipe them from the air with a single arrow." _I laughed at the thought as I heard the sounds of glass breaking. Minato had summoned Orpheus to bash one of the birds with a gigantic lyre, and Junpei had summoned his Persona also to slash at the bird in a diving charge, sending it to the ground for me to deliver the killing cut, causing one eagle to explode in a black mess.

Ew. What was it with these goddamn creatures and exploding in a black mess? I swear…

Turning my attention back towards the fight, I saw Minato stop one of the birds from dive-bombing him by slashing at it with his sword, but Junpei it seemed was not so lucky. While taking a light slash to the chest, it was to the point where this wasn't going very well in our favour.

…Fuck it. I shoved the barrel of the Evoker towards my temple and pulled the trigger.

"Everybody hide!" I yelled as Hydra materialized from the shards of broken glass. **"Myriad Arrows!"** Hydra rose up above the Eagles and launched a stream of arrows from each of her heads- liquefying the Eagles in an instant.

* * *

Once the dust settled and Hydra vanished, I sighed as I felt my mouth taste like metal. Everyone walked over to where Junpei was on the floor. I kneeled down beside him and sighed.

"It's nothing too severe, but we can't let it aggravate." I rooted around in my pockets for something to heal him, but I stopped when I heard the sound of a trigger being pulled.

"Gotta be brave…" Yukari whispered as Io was summoned. Within moments, the wounds Junpei had sustained were gone. Standing back up, everyone was now simply doing their best to catch their breath.

"Huh…" Minato began. "So that's what it's like, eh?" I nodded at him.

"You'll get more and more used to it as time goes on." Yukari and Junpei had walked over to us, everyone seeming to be in a better mood. "So how are you two holding up?" I asked.

"It was exhilarating!" Junpei exclaimed. "I mean, those things were huge, but Hermes took that one down no problem." Yukari seemed to be suppressing the urge to slap him as her expression hardened.

"Exhilarating?" She repeated. "You almost got really hurt!" Great. She's fussing already.

"Well, uh…" I laughed as Junpei scratched his head sheepishly. "You just gotta take it one step at a time."

"Just be thankful we had Hiikaze here to bail us out." Minato told me. I rolled my eyes and paused. I got the weird taste of metal in my mouth and, out of curiosity, stuck a finger in my mouth.

"Everything okay, Hiikaze-san?" Yukari asked me as I pulled out my red-tipped finger. Guess I was bleeding somewhere internally. Great.

"I just remembered that some Persona skills damage your body instead of your mind." I got a lot of confused looks as I said this.

"**Hiikaze-san is actually quite correct." **Mitsuru, now thinking this was a good time to chime in, did so over our comm link. "**The skills that your Persona can perform generally require a cost. For skills like Iori's Cleave or Arisato's Bash, it takes away from your health. For weaker attacks, you may feel a slight stinging akin to biting your tongue. For attacks like Hiikaze's…" **Mitsuru paused as I wiped my bloody finger on my coat. "**Well… you see what happens."** Mitsuru paused, again. "**However, you four did very good work tonight. The Venus Eagle was a difficult foe, and I'm glad to see that you're slowly getting used to the process of Tartarus. Return to the lobby from the teleporter you came from, and we'll discuss future deployment from there." **With that sounding like the best plan of tonight, the four of us left the room and down the teleporter, Minato pausing to take the masks from the Eagles. Hey, if they didn't disappear, then he can go for it.

* * *

As we all returned, I felt the cool breeze of the lobby's air hit me, which made me feel a lot better.

"Good to see everyone made it." I saw that Akihiko was propped up against one of the walls, eating a protein bar with general disinterest. I also saw Yukari yawn and Junpei outstretch.

"Hey, Minato-kun… I'm sorry, but I can't take anymore. I'm going back to the dorm." He nodded, and Junpei followed shortly behind her.

"Yeah, I'm pretty beat. I'm going back also." Minato frowned and I sighed.

"Need I remind you this was the first time **both** of them summoned their Persona tonight? And also need I remind **you** of the amount of time you were out for when that happened?" His frown changed into a smirk as he realized he was had.

"…Well played, Hiikaze." We both shared a smirk as Mitsuru coughed.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but perhaps we should also call it a day. After all, you don't have a full party." Mitsuru turned to look at Akihiko, who still silently ate his protein bar.

"…Don't look at me." He began. "I didn't even bring any of my gear with me anyways." The redhead looked relieved because of this. Meanwhile, the bluenette turned to me, not even a sign of tiredness on his expression.

"You wanna go back in?" He asked me. I looked around and shrugged.

"Eh, why not? I could use some practice." I told him as we both set up for the stairs.

"W-wait, you're both going back in?" Mitsuru looked worried, but I swore I caught an approving glance from Akihiko.

"…We were in there before for like all of 5 minutes." I told her. "We still have half an hour left minimum." I took a small cloth out of my coat pocket to clean the dark stain off my blade and shoved it back in my pocket. "…But I understand where it wouldn't be the best idea." I turned to Minato. "You still got energy to burn? Let's take the long way home." He turned to look at the gates of Tartarus, before nodding.

"You're on." He told me, wearing a huge smirk on his normally expressionless face. I could hear Mitsuru give a slight chuckle.

"Very well then. Just do try to be home at a reasonable hour." She told us. We nodded and ran out of Tartarus.

* * *

"…And that's why we're as home as late as we are." I said, taking my headphones off as we both walked into the dorm lobby. To properly explain what happened, Minato and I took a few detours on the way home from Tartarus. While we left about halfway into the Dark Hour, we still didn't get back until after 1 in the morning.

Not only were we explaining this to Mitsuru, Natalie had walked down about halfway into our talk, which concerned me a little bit. What in the hell was she still doing up?

"…_You're honestly surprised by that?" _Well, a little bit, yeah. It's not like we took her to Tartarus, she was here all night just unpacking things.

"…And you are aware that to do that, it requires energy? While not as much as fighting gigantic birds or what was essentially parkour-ing through the streets, she's still probably wired." Meh… Whatever. She probably just has a messed up sleep schedule or something.

"…Well, I suppose you two earned it." Mitsuru mused. She didn't look happy to say it, but she did anyways. "Just promise you two will stick to the curfew from now on." We both nodded and Mitsuru sighed softly before nodding and then going upstairs.

Once she was out of earshot, Minato sighed.

"Jeez, what's her deal…?" He shook his head before I tossed him his can of energy drink from my bag that we bought on the way here. I chuckled and took out the can of Coke from mine and opened it.

"I don't know." I told him. "But you've got school tomorrow. You probably should get to bed or something. Wouldn't want you falling asleep in class now…" We both laughed before he went upstairs, leaving Nat and myself in the lobby.

"So when do you think I could go with you guys for the next trip?" She asked me. I turned to her and sighed, sipping from the drink.

"Whenever we next decide to go. It'll probably be soon, but not for a few days. Just keep yourself available during nights and you'll come along next time." I paused to yawn and take another sip. "I'm actually looking forward to it." She walked over to me and smiled- a warm, but tired expression on her face. She was dressed in a pair of black gym shorts and a grey, long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was tied up into a big ponytail, and her hair decorations were gone- taken out for bed, probably. "How did moving go?" I asked her, also offering her the can. She took it from me to have herself a small sip and returned it to me.

"It went good. Pretty slow, but I'm all nice and set up now." She stretched out her arms and yawned. "But I can't believe how late it is. I'm glad to see that you're okay though." She wrapped her arms around me in a quick hug before running up the stairs, the pitter-patter of her bare feet echoing through.

Now on my own, I pulled out my iPod and put in the small, in-ear headphones that I used for whenever we went to Tartarus. I put each of them into my ears before shuffling through my library. It took me awhile to find something, but once I did, I sat down on one of the couches, my drink in hand.

_**Oh God!**_

_**The sound they must've heard in the distance!**_

_**A wilderness of sound and movement repeating itself**_

_**Across the narrows of the mountainside!**_

_"Is everything okay? You seem out of it."_ I think I may still be bummed by the fact that I felt so crappy after one Myriad Arrows. I never remembered it being so taxing…

_"I'm not too sure what to do about that. If anything, you'll just have to watch yourself from here on out."_ Out of curiosity, I stuck a finger into my mouth again- this time, it didn't come out with any specks of red.

_…Maybe it was because of Beast Eye?_

_"I don't know what to tell you, Hiikaze. You're really just in a situation of trial and error, so you'll have to just take it a day at a time."_ I don't suppose there's really any other option.

_**The cries of creatures crashing…**_

_**Oh god!**_

_**The human voices, heralding the hillside!**_

…At least the Eagles were handled well. I didn't expect them to make a reappearance though.

"_Do you think the others will show again?"_ Possibly. I don't know what caused them to essentially respawn, but there's something else afoot here.

_"The Reaper?"_ It's a possibility- a very likely one, at that. It could be it's own doing… But now that we're on the subject, I'm still really bothered by that thing knowing I had Beast Eye. And it seemed to make a big deal out of it- is there a particular reason to that?

_"Within the world of demons, there are some exceptionally strong forces that can call upon the Eye of the Beast in combat. It's actually an exceptional power that was known to improve all combat abilities to an impressive degree."_ So its just some fancy demon thing that a giant Shadow thinks that I'm some big deal?

_"…I wouldn't put it such simple terms, but essentially. There has never been any record of a mortal wearing the Eye of the Beast."_ In all fairness, I'm not the most concerned about it- at least until either something incredibly bad happens or I manage to get something figured out on my own.

I just really hate going at this so blind. Maybe I should take a few days to really look into all of this.

_"If you wish. But giving it some time wouldn't always be the worst of ideas."_

* * *

**A/N: Well hello. As you can see, I finally updated this. Holy eff, it's actually kind of amazing. It's weird, because I've been putting more effort into stuff for LDR's sequel instead of LDR. Is that weird? It might be.**

**Fun fact: Myriad Arrows is tied for the highest HP cost out of the physical skills in vanilla Persona 3- at 40%! The other one, for those curious, is Akasha Arts. P3FES tuned it down; making the cost a respectable 19%-with Persona 4 made it 21%. **

**Now that I got the trivia out of the way, it seems that we had our first actual fight in Tartarus. Not the worst done, but not the best. I'm sure it'll get smoother for the group as this goes on.**

**Next time: Social Links? Iunno.**

**In-game date: 4/22/09**


End file.
